Pirro Charges Ex-Olympian For Allegedly Vandalizing Reflecting Pool

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for District of Columbia, announced the indictment of former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for allegedly vandalizing President Donald Trump‘s newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

U.S. Park Police arrested the 67-year-old, three-time Olympian on June 19, charging him with “destruction of government property.” Hearn claims he had paused a 52-mile bike ride to reach into the water and see what the peeling blue sealant of the algae-riddled pool “felt like,” according to an interview with The Washington Post.

The $14.65 million renovation of the notoriously algae-plagued pool, part of Trump’s D.C. beautification efforts, has faced widespread mockery and criticism as the water turned green and chunks of sealant peeled off the pool’s bottom shortly after the work’s completion.

“So, today, a grand jury has returned a felony indictment against a defendant, David Hearn, for felony destruction of property for which he faces ten years in prison,” Pirro said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon. “The indictment is in response to an incident that occurred on June 19th of 2026 in which the defendant Hearn ripped a piece of recently installed sealant on the bottom of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial.

Pirro claimed there is enough evidence to prove that Hearn intentionally inflicted damage onto the Reflecting Pool:

The evidence shows, and we will prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that Hearn willfully destroyed property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. This was a deliberate act to damage the reflecting pool at the National Mall that members of the National Park Service actually have worked hard to restore and have witnessed. By Hearn’s own admission on June 19 he reached down into the pool. Our evidence further shows that the National Park Service employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands. According to witnesses, Hearn damaged approximately two square feet of sealant from the pool.

Witnesses, according to Pirro, characterized Hearn’s attitude and behavior as “belligerent, rude and disrespectful.”

“A Parks employee actually told Hearn to stop, to stop his behavior and stop what he was doing,” Pirro said of the incident. “Hearn reacted by shouting at that Parks’ employee saying that she cared too much about the Reflecting Pool and, ‘Why did she even care since it wasn’t her pool?'”

Watch above via Fox News.

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