Exonerated ex-Olympian just put the Trump administration on notice

Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn exits the courthouse following his arraignment on at DC Superior Court in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 9, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

David Hearn, the former Olympic canoeist who recently found himself at the center of a legal firestorm thanks to President Donald Trump, is reviewing “all options” after the Department of Justice on Friday admitted the charges brought against him were based on a false claims.

Hearn was charged on July 2 with one felony count of vandalism after U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro claimed he inflicted “widespread damage” at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Last Friday, Pirro dropped the charges against Hearn, acknowledging the damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by “a botched installation and not vandalism.” Pirro’s motion on Friday directly contradicts Trump’s oft-repeated claim that vandals slashed the pool lining.

An attorney for Hearn told the Guardian “all options are on the table” as he seeks legal recourse for the arrest.

According to the Guardian, “Hearn ‘has a number of potential remedies’ after being prosecuted in connection with pool damage now attributed to faulty work by a contractor, attorney Steven Levin said in a statement. Levin added that those could include ‘civil suits, bar referrals for the prosecutors involved, request for sanctions and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and expenses,’ and requests for investigations by various government entities, including Congress.”

As the Guardian reports, Hearn’s attorney have previously demanded a public apology from the Trump administration.

“The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought,” Levin and attorney Norm Eisen wrote Friday on X. “Its dismissal … does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong.”

Pirro on Monday met with Trump hours after the president told a room of reporters in the Oval Office that his longtime friend had “choked” in the Reflecting Pool case, arguing she “made a mistake" and that “vandalism” was responsible for the pool’s peeling liner.

CBS News reported that Pirro "carted a box full of evidence to the White House" for her meeting with Trump "in a bid to prove ... that the damage to the Reflecting Pool was caused by shoddy construction and not by vandals.”

Trump on Monday refused to say if he’s reconsidering Pirro’s role, snapping at the reporter who posed the question, according to CNBC.

Per CNBC, “The White House, asked later Monday whether Trump continues to support Pirro in her current role, referred CNBC back to the president’s comments in the Oval.”

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