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The Trump administration is reportedly considering renewing charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, just weeks after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro admitted that claims of him vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool were likely false.
The new charges would be highly unusual, especially with that admission being submitted in official court records, and would present a difficult case for Pirro’s office to pursue. The push to renew the case may be due to President Donald Trump’s continued, almost fanatical insistence — despite evidence indicating otherwise — that Hearn and others vandalized the pool.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on potential plans to renew the case, citing multiple sources with knowledge of the discussions taking place in the White House. According to their reports, the Trump administration is asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to consider reviving the charges.
Hearn was on a long-distance bike ride earlier this summer when he stopped at the reflecting pool. Media reports at the time indicated that renovations of the pool had resulted in large algae growth, and that chemicals used to remedy the problem were lifting the newly painted blue lining at the bottom. When Hearn reached his hand in the pool to feel the lining for himself, he was immediately arrested by the National Park Service (NPS) and charged with felony level vandalism.
In late July, however, Pirro dropped the charges against Hearn, noting that internal documents at the Interior Department — which had publicly backed Trump’s assertions that Hearn had vandalized the pool — showed that damage to the pool was likely the result of the chemicals in the water, rather than vandals out to embarrass the president ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations.
Despite Pirro showing that evidence directly to Trump, the president continued to insist that Hearn and others had done extensive damage to the pool. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump insisted that an unnamed NPS employee had seen Hearn engage in vandalism, saying that the former Olympian was “‘violently’ ripping and tugging at the Pool’s somewhat delicate coating.”
Notably, Trump had previously claimed that the coating was so strong that it couldn’t even be cut. The president presented no other evidence to back his claims against Hearn in the post.
Norm Eisen, one of the lawyers representing Hearn, condemned the administration for considering renewing the charges.
“Is DOJ seriously considering reviving a case they ADMITTED lacked evidence to convict? It’s a new low for them — & blatant harassment of an innocent man,” Eisen said in a Bluesky post.
Prior to reports of the White House making these new considerations, Hearn himself said that the ordeal has tested his beliefs.
“My confidence is being tested for sure here, in what our nation can withstand,” Hearn told NPR earlier this week. “But I don’t think people are taking this lying down.”
Indeed, a plurality of Americans are doubtful of Trump’s claims regarding vandalism. According to an Economist/YouGov poll published on Tuesday, only 20 percent believe his claims regarding “vandals” being responsible for the damage at the reflecting pool, while 48 percent said they do not. Thirty-two percent said they were unsure.
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