Pirro: Grand Jury indicts fmr Olympian accused of vandalizing Reflecting Pool
OAN Staff Addie Davis
2:30 PM – Thursday, July 2, 2026
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced that a grand jury had issued a felony indictment against the former U.S. Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
In a Thursday press conference, Pirro said that three-time Olympic canoeist David Hearn, 67, was indicted for felony destruction of property, a charge that carries up to 10 years in prison.
Hearn is accused of ripping and damaging about two square feet of the sealant at the bottom of the pool on June 19th, according to witnesses.
“National Parks service employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands,” Pirro said.
National Parks employees, who were witnesses to the event, characterized Hearn’s behavior as “belligerent, rude and disrespectful,” according to Pirro.
When one employee told him to stop, Pirro said he shouted at her and asked, “Why did she even care, since it wasn’t her pool.”
Hearn had told The Washington Post that he had not destroyed or vandalized anything, but that he had reached out and touched the piece of liner he claimed was floating in the water when Park Police took him into custody.
In addition to Hearn’s indictment, Pirro said there were about half a dozen other cases also pending regarding alleged vandalism of the Reflecting Pool, with some of them being misdemeanors and others violations.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly taken to Truth Social to condemn the purported vandalism, claiming there were a series of gashes stretching over 350 feet of the lining.
Addressing this claim, Pirro said she had been to the pool the day before, stating that someone had intentionally done a “tremendous amount of damage.” She noted they were still trying to identify the alleged perpetrator and were not discussing evidence at the moment.
The series of alleged acts of vandalism comes after the Reflecting Pool was recently renovated as part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to beautify the capital by renovating and cleaning monuments and memorials.
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