{"id":285622,"date":"2026-07-03T04:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/285622\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T04:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:42:19","slug":"american-olympic-canoeist-indicted-for-alleged-vandalism-of-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/285622\/","title":{"rendered":"American Olympic canoeist indicted for alleged vandalism of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn\u00a0has been indicted by a grand jury\u00a0<\/a>for allegedly\u00a0damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hearn, 67, is facing a\u00a0felony charge for destruction of property, which carries up to 10 years\u00a0behind bars,\u00a0for allegedly tearing up roughly\u00a0two square feet of sealant from the bottom of the pool,\u00a0DC US\u00a0Attorney\u00a0Jeanine Pirro announced.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The gold-winning former Olympic athlete\u00a0was arrested\u00a0on\u00a0June 19 amid the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on alleged vandalism at the Reflecting Pool, which has been plagued by\u00a0a nasty\u00a0algae\u00a0bloom<\/a>\u00a0and peeling sealant despite more than $16 million in renovations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former US Olympian David Hearn was arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hearn willfully destroyed property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool,\u201d Pirro declared. \u201cThis was a deliberate act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis<\/a><\/p>\n

Hearn told the Washington\u00a0Post\u00a0that he was arrested after picking up a piece of the pool\u2019s liner that was floating in the water,\u00a0but\u00a0denied destroying the sealant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t vandalize anything,\u201d claimed Hearn, who competed at the Summer Games for the US in 1992, 1996 and 2000. \u201cI didn\u2019t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pirro stressed that Hearn admitted to putting his hands in the water and claimed that the feds have witnesses attesting that he tore up some of the sealant. She estimated he did over $1,000 worth of damage to federal property and that the feds believe he did it just with his bare hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0on Friday claimed vandals damaged the recently renovated reflecting pool near the Lincoln Memorial, adding that authorities are investigating the incident. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cOur 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,\u201d she said. \u201cAccording to witnesses, Hearn damaged approximately two square feet of sealant from the bottom of the pool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA Parks employee\u00a0actually told Hearn\u00a0to stop,\u201d she went on. \u201cHearn reacted by\u00a0shouting at that Park\u2019s\u00a0employee, saying that she \u2018cared too much\u2019 about the Reflecting Pool. And why did she \u2018even care\u2019 since it wasn\u2019t her pool?\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Olympian\u2019s attorney accused the US Attorney for DC\u2019s office of lodging politically motivated charges against him.<\/p>\n

David Hearn of the United States looks on during the Olympic Slalom Trials in 1992. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cDavey Hearn is innocent. These charges are outrageous and should\u00a0be alarming to\u00a0every American,\u201d the former Olympic athlete\u2019s lawyer, Norm Eisen, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis indictment reflects the Administration\u2019s effort to shift blame for\u00a0their\u00a0own failures. On the eve of our nation\u2019s Independence Day, Americans should be deeply concerned by the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pirro underscored that many National Park Service employees were outraged by the vandalism at the Reflecting Pool <\/a>because they\u00a0have\u00a0pride in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A piece of the blue coating floats among algae in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 21, 2026. AP Photo\/Jon Elswick<\/p>\n

The Reflecting Pool had been one of President Trump\u2019s most vaunted renovation projects in DC. Having long been plagued by leaks and algae, the Trump administration drained the pool in April and began coating\u00a0it with \u201cAmerican flag blue\u201d sealant<\/a>, fixing the joints in the concrete slabs, and installing a new $1.7 million\u00a0ozone-based nanobubbler system to combat algae.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But upon reopening last month, a massive algae bloom quickly swept the iconic Reflecting Pool, and observers saw pieces of the sealant peel off. That gave Trump\u2019s critics fodder and attracted national attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Algae appears in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after recent renovations, following a directive from President Donald Trump to paint it blue ahead of the 250th anniversary of US Independence, in Washington, DC, on June 15, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Trump has\u00a0blamed the algae problems and sealant peeling issues on vandals<\/a>.\u00a0Pirro claims that over half a dozen people\u00a0were\u00a0arrested for vandalism,\u00a0against whom her team is weighing potential legal action.<\/p>\n

Recently, the administration appeared to\u00a0get the algae cleaned up,\u00a0though the Reflecting Pool is currently fenced off from the public due to Fourth of July festivities.\u00a0Trump announced that the over\u00a06.5-million-gallon basin\u00a0will be drained after Independence Day for repairs.<\/p>\n

US National Park Service workers dump bottles of hydrogen peroxide into the Reflecting Pool to mitigate the algae bloom on June 16, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n

People view the Reflecting Pool from behind a fence on June 27, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the most offensive\u00a0images that I hold in my mind are the images of national monuments that are\u00a0being defaced, ropes torn down, graffitied, and damaged by individuals,\u201d Pirro emphasized.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a vivid memory of this happening several years ago, and over time, where our national monuments and statues are being torn down. And this is not the way of a civilized society. It is anarchy,\u201d Pirro\u00a0went on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn\u00a0has been indicted by a grand jury\u00a0for allegedly\u00a0damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3283,153,9,11,10,87,53520,58,5614,8093],"class_list":["post-285622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-arrests","tag-donald-trump","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-summer-olympics","tag-us-news","tag-vandalism","tag-washington-dc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}