Prosecutors drop Reflecting Pool damage charge against former Olympian

Federal prosecutors on Friday moved to drop a criminal charge filed against a former Olympian who had been accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool, suggesting that the damage was instead due to a rushed installation.

According to the filing in D.C. Superior Court, internal Interior Department documents chalked up the peeling of the pool liner to contractor errors made during a rushed process to overhaul the pool ahead of celebrations to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary in July.

Prosecutors said they would dismiss the indictment against David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist who had been accused of felony vandalism.

President Donald Trump — who ordered the changes to the pool — and his aides have repeatedly blamed vandals after pieces of the refurbished pool’s new blue liner started drifting to the surface.

“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,” according to the filing.

“The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought,” Hearn’s lawyers, Norm Eisen, Mary Dohrmann, and Steve Levin, said in a statement. “Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.”

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the administration’s past accusations against Hearn and the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case.