Lawyer for Olympian Arrested for ‘Vandalizing’ Reflecting Pool Vows He’ll Fight the Charges: ‘Touching Water Is Not a Crime!’

Norm Eisen, the attorney representing David Hearn, vowed that his client would fight the charges against him accusing him of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool, declaring that “touching water is not a crime!”

President Donald Trump’s decision to drain the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and paint the bottom “American Flag Blue” has been criticized for its cost, plus the no-bid $14 million contract that was given to an ally. Since the pool was refilled, bright green algae have spread throughout the water, and the paint has been peeling away. Reporters have seen tourists tearing off pieces of the paint to bring home as souvenirs.

The National Park Service has sent out work crews to try to combat the algae through various means, including “hydro-vacuums” and pouring hydrogen peroxide into the water. That appears to have been an inadequate fix, initially killing off some of the algae along the outer edges of the Reflecting Pool and possibly even causing or exacerbating the peeling paint. Tests conducted by two scientists on behalf of a reporter from The Atlantic found that a new “more aggressive” type of algae was spreading throughout the water.

On Saturday, Hearn, a 67-year-old former Olympic canoe racer, was arrested and hit with a misdemeanor charge for destruction of government property when he stopped at the Reflecting Pool to check it out.

“I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece,” Hearn told The Washington Post. “It was still attached to the bottom. I didn’t remove anything.”

“I didn’t vandalize anything,” he insisted. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”

Trump has written multiple Truth Social posts accusing unnamed vandals of damaging the Reflecting Pool, blaming “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE” for the peeling paint and other issues. On Monday, the president again vented his frustrations in a Truth Social post, claiming that vandals had put a “300-foot-long gash” in the Reflecting Pool’s paint and “chemicals have been illegally placed in the water.”

“Please remember that there is a 10-year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things – Which will be fully enforced!” Trump added.

Hearn and Eisen appeared on Monday’s episode of All In with Chris Hayes to talk about his arrest and the situation at the Reflecting Pool. Host Chris Hayes has been sharply critical of the president and the administration over the handling of the Reflecting Pool, specifically the unfounded vandalism accusations against Hearn, ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, and others.

Hayes asked Hearn what he was doing when he stopped by the Reflecting Pool. Hearn said he was on a 50-mile bicycle ride and decided to “swing back over by the Reflecting Pool on my way back as a concerned, curious citizen.”

According to Hearn, he put his hand in the water and then walked back to where he had left his his bike in the grass and “three National Guard troops sort of materialized and started talking to me about — after I greeted them, they were talking to me about the park police wanting to talk to me.”

“I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong,” Hearn continued, “so I had no reason to think I was going to be arrested.” According to Hearn, he voluntarily walked over to the park police and “before I knew it, I was being handcuffed and realized I was being arrested.”

Hayes commented that the situation “seems so impossibly insane to me,” with Trump threatening ten years in prison.

“There was no crime,” Eisen emphasized. “There’s certainly no wrongdoing .”

“This is a Reflecting Pool where people have — for decades — touched the water,” Eisen explained. “How can it be a crime to touch the water of the Reflecting Pool?”

This was “a desperate effort to cast blame anywhere other than those responsible,” the lawyer continued, blaming Trump for giving a “no-bid contract…involving one of the president’s Mar-a-Lago cronies”.

The “poor performance” problems were very predictable, Eisen argued, with painting the bottom of a pool a dark color at the height of summer, “in a body of water that already is known to have severe algae problems.”

“This coating is coming up of its own volition,” Eisen said, with a chuckle. “Obviously, Mr. Hearn did not dump algae or toxic chemicals or run a 250 or 300-foot knife line down this pool.”

The charges against his client were “one of the classic signs of an authoritarian regime to abuse the criminal powers,” Eisen argued, like the charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, and “so many other cases that have been rejected by judges, by grand juries.”

This case was “outrageous,” Eisen continued, and “every American should be concerned about this,” because it was “a sign of authoritarian behavior.”

Hayes asked Hearn to confirm that he was detained for five hours, and Hearn said that he was, recalling how he was initially told it was going to be a “cite and release” but “it dragged on” for hours and he was not allowed to make a phone call or ever read his rights.

“Nobody really knew I was there,” said Hearn. “I was held incommunicado that whole time, was never read my rights.”

In response to Hayes’ question about the charges, Eisen said his client had two misdemeanor citations, “but there’s no basis for this.”

“We’re going to contest it vigorously,” Eisen emphasized. “It’s not a federal crime to touch water. If you look in — if you look in the statutes, you’ll see there’s no such federal crime.”

Hayes mentioned how Hearn had represented the U.S. in the Olympics and commented that it must be “so surreal” for him to be threatening him with ten years in prison, asking for his reaction.

“Well, Chris, I’m concerned for our country,” he replied. “I’m cautious about the future, but I’m confident in my counsel. And we will contest these charges.”

Eisen shared a clip of the interview on social media, writing, “Touching water is not a crime!”

Hearn “did nothing wrong” and “we will fight these charges,” he added.

Watch the clip above via MS NOW.

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