In the wake of renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool earlier this year, several reports of vandalism to the site corresponded with evidence of flaking paint and other troublesome signs of damage.
Although some arrests were made, recent updates indicate that the Justice Department declined to pursue vandalism cases including the one against a former Olympian arrested near the pool several weeks ago.
While President Donald Trump’s critics are celebrating the decision as a perceived knock to his credibility, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the public hasn’t heard the full story.
As The Hill reported:
The DOJ moved to dismiss its felony destruction-of-property charge against former Olympian David Hearn on Friday, after finding new evidence that the damage to the pool’s lining was caused by a “rushed and botched installation,” and not alleged vandalism.
“The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool,” Burgum wrote on the social platform X, insisting that bad actors were responsible for the botched multi-million dollar renovation. “Some of these acts were even caught on camera.”
He said the Interior Department provided the U.S. Attorney’s office with expert and eyewitness testimony documenting the damage, along with “every piece of evidence they asked for” detailing the areas of damage.
“Intentional damage done to the Reflecting Pool is no different than defacing any one of our other national monuments,” Burgum wrote. “We won’t back down to deranged people who want to destroy, deface, or degrade our monuments.”
Here’s a sampling of the reaction his post received:
Flawed installation or not, I just don’t understand how all the charges were dropped when he and others are on video damaging the reflecting pool. @USAttyPirro
— 💫RNcat💫 (@RNcat50) August 1, 2026
What the hell was the judge thinking? She’s developed a clear pattern of letting these goons walk free.”
— Rocky (@matpeakrock) August 1, 2026
Good! Unfortunately, the DC courts are corrupt and unless you have clear video evidence of someone screaming:
“I just sliced the pool lining with this boxcutter and I meant to cause felonious-level damage and get caught”,
they won’t even let you take it to court. Even if you…
— Voice of Sanity (@HouseofElon) August 1, 2026
Trump also shared his thoughts, as MS NOW reported:
President Donald Trump on Saturday expressed displeasure with the Justice Department’s decision to drop a felony charge against a former Olympian accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, excoriating his handpicked U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, on social media.
ADVERTISEMENT“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking?” Trump posted on Truth Social. “To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM, that included the grass, which had a big 86 47 emblazoned in giant letters on it, and other elements of the surrounding area. There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”
Pirro filed a motion Friday evening to dismiss charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn after prosecutors determined that the damage to the Reflecting Pool’s liner was, in fact, due to the contractor’s “botched” work.
Here’s some additional coverage:
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