Trump urges Jeanine Pirro to revisit dropped Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump publicly urged U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Friday to reconsider her decision to drop felony vandalism charges against former Olympic athlete David Hearn concerning damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Hearn was indicted on July 2 on a single count of felony destruction of property. U.S. Park Police originally alleged that on June 19, Hearn grabbed and tugged at a loose section of the pool’s coating even after a National Park Service employee instructed him to stop, an incident initially claimed to have caused more than $1,000 in damage.
However, Pirro’s office requested that the court dismiss the indictment without prejudice, arguing that newly uncovered evidence made it difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hearn caused the damage. Prosecutors explained that the Department of the Interior initially provided only "barebones" reports to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and failed to disclose records documenting extensive problems with the coating’s installation.
"Had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment," prosecutors wrote. They further detailed that documents provided after the indictment was returned indicated the damage to the pool in June 2026 was actually the result of flawed installation by the contractor Atlantic Industrial Coatings and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.
Trump has been highly critical of Pirro’s handling of the case from the outset, stating earlier in the week that she "choked" under pressure from a judge and "folded like an umbrella." He also wrote that he disagrees 100% with the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia on the matter, questioning, "I don’t know what she was thinking?"
On Friday, Trump took to Truth Social to share photos from a freelance photographer, asserting that the incident constituted "pure VANDALISM." He claimed, "People were on their knees with their hands in the water at the exact location of the ‘slashes.’ Additionally, there were witnesses to the VANDALISM, and the flexible areas of the material were cut with a knife." He called on Pirro to revisit her decision, making unsubstantiated claims regarding the personal and political affiliations of the individual involved and his legal representation.
In response to the dismissal, Hearn’s legal team—attorneys Norm Eisen, Mary Dohrmann, and Steve Levin—released a statement condemning the prosecution. They asserted that the case against their client should never have been brought and that its dismissal does not erase what they described as an abuse of government power against a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. "The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim," the statement read, adding that the administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.
