Matt Viser, The Atlantic; How the Reflecting Pool Vandalism Case Fell Apart
"The charges seemed ridiculous to his supporters. But when I recently spoke with Hearn, he told me that the case was hurting his ability to sleep at night. He had once carried the Olympic torch for his country, and he was now worried about being the center of a political firestorm. “It’s unsettling,” Hearn told me, “to feel like I’m being targeted by my government.”"
Glenn Thrush, The New York Times; In Dropping Reflecting Pool Case, Pirro Draws Trump’s Wrath
"Jeanine Pirro faced the cameras on July 2 with characteristic self-assurance to announce the indictment of the 67-year-old ex-Olympian David Hearn for trashing “sacred” government property, President Trump’s highly prized but shoddily renovated Reflecting Pool.
“This is not only a priority for the president, but for myself,” said Ms. Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, disclosing felony vandalism charges against Mr. Hearn for touching the lining of the pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. She added: “We will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hearn willfully destroyed property.”
This was not the case.
Ms. Pirro’s office dramatically reversed course on Friday, not only withdrawing the charge against Mr. Hearn but blasting the Interior Department for the rushed and “botched” renovation, along with U.S. Park Police officials who fed bad information that led her to publicly cite “tremendous evidence” against Mr. Hearn. In the process, intentionally or not, she skated perilously close to contradicting Mr. Trump — and he noticed.
Ms. Pirro’s 20-page filing did not refer to, much less rebuke, Mr. Trump for claiming the damage was caused by left-wing vandals rather than his administration’s missteps. But it raised innate doubts about his assertion that criminals had slashed the pool’s lining with a “knife or blade.”...
Mr. Hearn’s team maintained that he had merely “touched a piece of coating that had already detached, released it when asked to do so by a park employee, and left the pool in no worse condition in which he found it.”
Photos and testimony introduced in the case had indicated that substantial cracks had already appeared, and water started leaking from the pool, before Mr. Hearn’s visit. Mr. Hearn’s lawyers questioned whether that information had been made clear to grand jurors, complaining of “irregularities that reflect a misleading presentation.”
His legal team was “evaluating all legal remedies,” Mr. Eisen said."
Kevin Breuninger, CNBC ; Pirro moves to drop case against Olympian, says Reflecting Pool damage caused by ‘flawed installation’
[Kip Currier: No responsible government attorney should ever have brought a case against Olympic canoeist David Hearn when even a basic understanding of the facts would have unequivocally demonstrated that these were trumped up allegations to deflect from the Trump administration's embarrassment over the ongoing Reflecting Pool debacle.
Hopefully, the attorneys responsible for these groundless claims will at the very least face ethics-based proceedings and consequences from their respective bar licensing associations.]
"U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Friday moved to dismiss an indictment charging U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn with vandalizing the Reflecting Pool of the Lincoln Memorial, writing in a court filing that damage to the pool’s sealant was the result of a “flawed installation.”"
Dan Mangan, CNBC; Olympian David Hearn indicted in Reflecting Pool destruction of property case
"U.S. Olympian canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, D.C., for destruction of property in connection with allegedly ripping up sealant in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Thursday.
Pirro said Hearn on June 19 willfully and “violently” damaged a two-square-foot piece of sealant at the pool, whose renovation has been a top priority for President Donald Trump this year.
Hearn, 67, faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted of the felony charge, which was filed in the District of Columbia. He was arrested on June 19 on a misdemeanor charge.
The three-time Olympian told The Washington Post after his arrest that he had been cycling when he stopped at the Reflecting Pool to look at it. While there, he said, he reached into the water to feel what a partially detached piece of blue liner felt like, after which he was arrested.
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told The Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”"
