Posted on 08/11/2026 11:45:00 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice threw in the towel in its attempt to prosecute David Hearn for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, but the White House is now asking them to try again, according to a new report by The Wall Street Journal.
White House officials are now asking the DOJ to “consider a new prosecution” of Hearn, citing sources “familiar with the discussions,” the Journal reported.
Any attempt to bring new charges “would be highly unusual,” the article noted, because the U.S. Attorney Office for the District of Columbia, headed by Jeanine Pirro, already admitted it had relied on claims from the Department of the Interior that “the damage was caused entirely by vandals, including [Hearn].”
After the indictment, DOI then “provided additional documents” that revealed “the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by DOI,” Pirro’s office had said.
DOJ officials were actually “exploring whether another type of case—likely based on misdemeanor allegations—is even possible,” conducting “informal and preliminary” discussions internally, sources told the Journal.
Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was facing a felony charge for destruction of government property until Pirro’s office filed a motion to dismiss without prejudice at the end of last month.
In addition to dropping the felony charge against Hearn, Pirro’s office moved to dismiss three other misdemeanor cases charging people with similar accusations of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.
Meanwhile, Trump has continued to rage about the dismissal of the cases, publicly lambasting Pirro and falsely claiming there is “video” evidence of the vandalism being committed.
The president’s attempts to renovate the Reflecting Pool have been a months-long source of frustration for him, as the project has been plagued by bright green algae and peeling paint, which Trump and others in his administration have claimed were caused by vandals. These claims were swiftly met with a high level of skepticism, but Trump’s Department of Justice made several arrests nonetheless, including Hearn.
The current status of the prosecution against Hearn is that the case has been officially dismissed by the court, with the parties set to appear at a hearing next month regarding whether or not the dismissal should be without prejudice, meaning Hearn can legally be charged again, or with prejudice.
BREAKING: Davey Hearn case formally DISMISSED. More to follow…. pic.twitter.com/OkgXfeYBmf
— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) August 6, 2026
In a scathing motion, Hearn’s attorneys sharply denounced the case as a “politically motivated prosecution” of their client that was “motivated by political considerations and devoid of adequate factual support,” and argued that the “risk of harassment and bad faith” was very real, the attorneys continued, because of how Trump and other administration officials had “publicly attacked” the dismissal of the case and the DOJ “has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to seek or reinstate criminal charges to satisfy the President, irrespective of the law or facts.”
Several legal commentators have observed that Pirro and others involved in the case could face disciplinary actions by the DC bar association if it is found that misrepresentations were made to the grand jury or to the court.
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This is a story that should go away. It'd be a shame if the DOJ opens up a sequel.
Insanity
Doesn’t matter if the contractor did a poor job or messed it up. People don’t have the right to go to a national monument and deface it. So, lets just disagree about them reopening it. I don’t want people attacking monuments and then using poor contractor excuses for why they destroyed something.
Finish off Iran and come home. Period.
“insanity”
Yep, I’m beginning to think Trump and company are playing Chinese Checkers on a board that lets the marbles roll around.
Squandering precious time, energy, partisan credibility.
I thought Golf or Sports were his games of distraction from the big issues of the day.
Hmmmmm. Two good reasons why that makes no sense.
1. If I walk by a dead bush and twist off a branch, where’s the harm? If the pool was improperly lined and needed to be re-done, there was no material harm in grabbing a patch of floating, detached lining. (The indictment accused Hearn of peeling lining, not of removing it.)
2. The government provided no evidence Hearn detached the patch he touched. Therefore, no defacement.
3. [bonus!] It was an embarrassment for the US Attorney’s Office, which chose to prosecute BEFORE investigating. The prudent thing would be to let the story recede to obscurity.
Absolute madness that he is still obsessed with this. But I guess it takes the focus off of Iran and the ever increasing pile of broken promises. Where’s all the arrests of the Deep State traitors, election fraud prosecutions, Somali Daycare fraud, and everyone else he promised would be held accountable?
Trump likes to cry wolf, and just like the fairy tale, everyone has tuned him out. The first clue that he wasn’t serious about any of this is when he said he wasn’t going to pursue Hillary after running on the slogan of “Lock Her Up”.
Pathetic YES Men at the WH peddling a embarrassing useless petty mean prosecution.
Trump is an immature mean vindictive petty narcissist
who embarrasses the Presidency.
We have real problems and this immature narcissist
waste his time on useless case.
If someone does not stop his mouth and actions.
We will get wiped in the midterms.
He looks more and more deranged.
It is *virtually impossible* to sue especially the federal government for things people assume are “easy” (vindictive prosecution, etc).
But DJT seems bound and determined to get another stupid black eye.
And 4.) the incident is of little importance when there are mother stabbers and father rapers afoot. Unless Trump’s need for retribution takes priority .
And 4.) the incident is of little importance when there are mother stabbers and father rapers afoot. Unless Trump’s need for retribution takes priority .
The the patch he grabbed wasn't detached.
Come on.
Can we *please* not become leftists who think you can create realty by simply willing something and repeating something often enough substitutes for reality?
Ever since 2014 — there has been a 24/7 livecam feed of the reflecting pool atop the Washington Monument. I know this because long ago, we used it a landing page plugin on a web platform.
That’s not even considering that there are almost certainly a bazillion other cameras in surveillance state DC that dates back probably 25 years.
Can we stop being silly?
Come on.
I simply corrected the poster and stated what Hearn claimed he did.
Hearn claimed the piece he grabbed was attached, NOT "detached".
Do you really have a problem with me correcting what the poster said?
Seriously?
Yes, President Donald Trump conceded there was "some contractor error" responsible for damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. On August 10, 2026, Trump admitted on Truth Social that contractors from Atlantic Industrial Coatings made mistakes by "rushing the job" to meet a July 4th opening deadline, causing the pool's lining to peel and delaminate.
Trump's concession details:
He characterized the contractor-caused damage as confined to a "very small area" and "relatively inconsequential" compared to the overall project.
This admission aligned with a Department of Justice filing that dropped vandalism charges against former Olympian David Hearn, citing evidence that the damage resulted from a "botched installation" rather than sabotage.
Despite acknowledging the construction flaws, Trump continued to blame vandals for other alleged damage to the landmark. He maintained that a National Park Service employee witnessed Hearn damaging the pool, even while conceding there is "no video or proof" to substantiate the vandalism claims.
Both can be true, but your irrational hatred for Trump refuses to take tat even into consideration. It also makes you look like a punk.
“If the pool was improperly lined and needed to be re-done, there was no material harm in grabbing a patch of floating, detached lining. (The indictment accused Hearn of peeling lining, not of removing it.)”
So, witness said he jumped in and pulled it up. Why would you do that a national park or monument and not expect to be prosecuted? The liner may be defective, he doesn’t belong in the monument tearing it out. So yes, I have a problem with that.
I didn’t get a Sarah Rumph out of that guy!
Scroo Jeanninne Pirro. She gives potted plants a bad name.
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