Lawyers now say damage to pool liner attributed to David Hearn instead is result of installation by contractor The justice department has moved to dismiss a criminal case charging former Olympian David Hearn with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial‘ reflecting pool, instead blaming damage to the pool liner as “the result of flawed installation by the contractor”. Government lawyers said in a 20-page court filing in DC superior court on Friday evening that they had received information about a “rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026”. Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said that her office had received documents from the Department of the Interior only “after the return of the indictment” showing that damage to the pool occurred prior to Hearn visiting the reflecting pool and put his hand in the water on 19 June. Hearn had denied administration claims of pool sabotage and the charge that followed. The documents “indicated a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling o
Jul 31, 2026 → Aug 7, 2026
A judge on Thursday officially tossed out a case the Justice Department brought against former Olympian David Hearn, whom they had accused of feloniously vandalizing the Reflecting Pool earlier this summer. Judge Todd Edelman stopped short…
Read original at CNN →6 updates from 2 sources over 6 days.
A judge on Thursday officially tossed out a case the Justice Department brought against former Olympian David Hearn, whom they had accused of feloniously vandalizing the Reflecting Pool earlier this summer. Judge Todd…
Read original at CNN →President Donald Trump laid into US Attorney Jeanine Pirro at a White House meeting Monday evening over a court filing that blamed the Reflecting Pool damage on shoddy workmanship rather than vandalism, according to two…
Read original at CNN →A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. President Donald Trump lashed out at oil companies and his own US attorney in the gilded Oval Office on…
Read original at CNN →Trump ‘disappointed’ with US attorney amid reports he’s considering removing her from her post Trump’s reflecting pool saga: a timeline Donald Trump accused US attorney Jeanine Pirro of having “folded like an umbrella”…
Read original at The Guardian →Nothing about what happened Friday, when the Justice Department dropped its case against a purported Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandal, was completely surprising. But that’s also what makes it so scandalous. The…
Read original at CNN →Lawyers now say damage to pool liner attributed to David Hearn instead is result of installation by contractor The justice department has moved to dismiss a criminal case charging former Olympian David Hearn with…
Read original at The Guardian →What this story stands on. Tier 0 is a primary record or the subject's own words; higher tiers must be attributed, never stated as bare fact.
A judge on Thursday officially tossed out a case the Justice Department brought against former Olympian David Hearn, whom they had accused of feloniously vandalizing the Reflecting Pool earlier this summer. Judge Todd Edelman stopped short…
View source →President Donald Trump laid into US Attorney Jeanine Pirro at a White House meeting Monday evening over a court filing that blamed the Reflecting Pool damage on shoddy workmanship rather than vandalism, according to two people familiar…
View source →A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. President Donald Trump lashed out at oil companies and his own US attorney in the gilded Oval Office on Monday as his spin…
View source →Trump ‘disappointed’ with US attorney amid reports he’s considering removing her from her post Trump’s reflecting pool saga: a timeline Donald Trump accused US attorney Jeanine Pirro of having “folded like an umbrella” amid reports that he…
View source →Nothing about what happened Friday, when the Justice Department dropped its case against a purported Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandal, was completely surprising. But that’s also what makes it so scandalous. The administration was…
View source →Lawyers now say damage to pool liner attributed to David Hearn instead is result of installation by contractor The justice department has moved to dismiss a criminal case charging former Olympian David Hearn with deliberately damaging the…
View source →Tier key: T0 = Primary source · T1 = Wire · T2 = Outlet report · T3 = Commentary
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