Jeanine Pirro Drops Lincoln Memorial Vandalism Case, Says Damage Was Caused by Botched Installation

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File

Jeanine Pirro, the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, moved Friday to dismiss the criminal case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, acknowledging in a court filing that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was caused by “flawed installation” rather than vandalism.

Hearn had pleaded not guilty earlier this month to one felony count of destruction of government property after he was accused of damaging the Reflecting Pool during a June 19 visit.

In Friday’s motion, reported on by the New York Post, Pirro’s office said new information provided after the indictment undermined the government’s original theory of the case.

“It was not until after the return of the indictment, that the DOI provided additional documents to the USAO-DC indicating that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings (‘AIC’), and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026,” the filing states.

The motion further says, “It was not until after these documents were produced that USAO-DC first became aware of information showing that the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by DOI.”

According to the filing, the sealant lining the bottom of the Reflecting Pool had “[a]lmost immediately” begun peeling after renovations were completed, and the Department of the Interior “provided less than fulsome information at the outset of this case.”

The dismissal comes days after Hearn’s attorneys challenged the prosecution’s case in a separate court filing, arguing that the government’s own evidence failed to support the felony charge, and pointing to testimony from a National Park Service official presented to the grand jury, arguing that the witness acknowledged the Reflecting Pool already suffered from significant preexisting damage and “could not quantify any loss attributable” to Hearn’s alleged actions.

The New York Times reported in June, as crews continued battling algae blooms that turned the pool bright green, that the National Park Service awarded a $1.7 million no-bid contract for a new water-purification system to Greenwater Services, a company tied to a longtime donor to President Donald Trump, John J. Cafaro. A separate no-bid contract was awarded to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the contractor now identified in Friday’s filing as responsible for the botched installation.

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