{"id":837135,"date":"2026-08-01T05:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837135\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T05:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T05:18:19","slug":"trump-officials-admit-reflecting-pool-work-botched-and-drop-case-against-olympian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/837135\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump officials admit Reflecting Pool work ‘botched’ and drop case against Olympian"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has admitted that US President Donald Trump’s US$14 million ($20 million) renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was “hasty and botched”.<\/p>\n

It comes as government lawyers move to dismiss a criminal case charging a former Olympian with deliberately damaging the monument.<\/p>\n

Here’s what to know about the case.<\/p>\n

First, catch me up<\/p>\n

Mr Trump ordered a multi-million-dollar renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool<\/a> earlier this year, which aimed to fix leaks and turn the pool a colour he called “American flag blue”.<\/p>\n

Contracts were awarded to two hand-picked businesses, including a swimming pool contractor, according to The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The government bypassed a legal requirement to seek competing bids by citing urgency to get the job done by July 4, which marked America’s 250th birthday.<\/p>\n

Days after the renovation was completed, algae turned the pool bright green<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Ducks swimming in the Reflecting Pool after an algal bloom turned the water green. (Reuters: Ken Cedeno)<\/p>\n

Government workers were seen pouring large volumes of bleach into the water in an effort to kill off the algae before the blue lining on the bottom began to peel.<\/p>\n

Without providing evidence, Mr Trump later claimed<\/a> vandals had poured “corrosive and destructive chemicals” into the pool.<\/p>\n

On June 19, former Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn, who owned a company that made composite materials for watercraft, stopped by the pool during a 102-kilometre bike ride and reached into the water to examine the peeling coating.<\/p>\n

He told the Associated Press he briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go when a park worker told him to.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A National Park Service worker dumping bleach into the water on June 16. (Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)<\/p>\n

National Guard troops and Park Police then detained him for five hours, and he was later indicted<\/a> for “maliciously” damaging the lining.<\/p>\n

Hearn maintained innocence<\/p>\n

Hearn pleaded not guilty earlier this month to one felony count of property destruction.<\/p>\n

A trial was scheduled to begin on September 28 in the DC Superior Court.<\/p>\n

The charge, which carried a maximum prison sentence of 10 years upon conviction, accused Hearn of causing at least $1,000 in damage to the pool.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Hearn’s lawyers said there were “irregularities” in the legal process.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Hearn and his attorney Norman Eisen following a court appearance on July 9. (AP: Rod Lamkey)<\/p>\n

They pointed to testimony by a National Park Service official that the pool was already damaged before Hearn touched it and couldn’t quantify any damage attributable to Hearn.<\/p>\n

“The witness’s testimony established that the pool had substantial preexisting (sic) damage requiring repair before any alleged conduct by Mr Hearn,” his lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n

“According to the witness, the pool was leaking more than one million gallons of water per week; its expansion joints had exceeded their service life; and the liner already contained a rip.”<\/p>\n

What is the new evidence?<\/p>\n

In court papers filed on Friday, prosecutors said they had only recently received new information that undermined the basis for the prosecution.<\/p>\n

The 20-page filing said additional documents provided by the Department of the Interior showed the damage was the result of a “botched installation” by a contractor and the “rush to complete the project”.<\/p>\n

A recent visual inspection also revealed damage throughout the pool, including in the middle, where prosecutors say a vandal would not likely have attempted to peel the lining.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A peeling section of blue coating in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. (AP: Mark Schiefelbein)<\/p>\n

“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” said the filing from US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, which asked a judge to formally dismiss the case.<\/p>\n

The dismissal marks an embarrassing setback for the DOJ, which billed the case as accountability for damage at the landmark.<\/p>\n

Has Hearn responded?<\/p>\n

Hearn has for weeks maintained his innocence and his supporters have characterised the prosecution as a politically motivated attempt by the Trump administration to deflect blame and scapegoat others.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Supporters argued the Department of Justice had made David Hearn a scapegoat. (Reuters: Elizabeth Frantz)<\/p>\n

His lawyers said in a statement that the case against him should never have been brought.<\/p>\n

“Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong,” the lawyers said.<\/p>\n

“The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr Hearn an apology.”<\/p>\n

ABC\/AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has admitted that US President Donald Trump’s US$14 million ($20 million) renovation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[409408,2490,43,134253,44,362571,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-837135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-david-hearn","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-lincoln-memorial","tag-news","tag-reflecting-pool","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}