Trump accidentally exposes his own role in 'mendacious scheme'

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event to sign an executive order regarding vaccine flexibility, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 10, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump may have accidentally exposed the degree to which he’s been involved with the “mendacious scheme” to prosecute Olympian David Hearn under false charges of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. According to commentators, a new social media post may provide Hearn’s lawyers with more evidence against the government, should he seek legal recourse.

It’s all because of a post Trump made on Sunday to Truth Social, in which he claimed, “A National Park Service career employee, a highly credible witness, saw David Hearn (ActBlue) in broad daylight vandalize the Reflecting Pool by ‘violently’ ripping and tugging at the Pool’s somewhat delicate coating. The National Park Service employee provided this witness testimony to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in early July[.]"

The president has been outraged by the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case against Hearn when it was found that documents from an investigation by the Interior Department contradicted the prosecution’s argument. After U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a decades-long Trump ally, filed a motion to dismiss the case — noting that “the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by DOI” — the president declared that she “choked” and “folded like an umbrella,” then continued to insist on Hearn’s guilt.

“Donald Trump is doing a great job building up David Hearn's civil case against the government,” said New Republic political columnist Greg Sargent, “which could give him and his lawyers another lever to crowbar loose more communications between DOJ and other agencies leading to his indictment.”

“Indeed,” replied lawyer and legal analyst David Lurie. “‘Truths’ like this appear to make the President himself part of the mendacious scheme that Pirro's office effectively portrayed in their court filing.”’

Trump’s post follows demands from the top Democrats on two Senate committees overseeing the Interior that an investigation be launched into how the vandalism lie was “cooked up” in the first place. According to a letter, “The Interior Department had publicly blamed damage to the pool’s new liner on ‘vandals,’ a claim echoed by Trump and prosecutors who pressed charges against several people. The Justice Department on Friday said that Interior officials did not share relevant internal information that indicated the problems were due to contractors’ mistakes and has dropped the cases ... Numerous questions remain: How was the vandalism lie cooked up? How did it get to President Trump’s desk? Or did it originate from the White House?”

Thanks to his ongoing accusations against Hearn, suggest commentators, Trump may be providing more clues as to where the “scheme” came from. What’s more, while Trump began his latest Reflecting Pool post claiming the damage was caused by Hearn, he ended it by admitting that “there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening.”

All of this comes amidst reports that Hearn’s legal team is considering taking legal action against the government. According to Hearn's attorneys, "The government is continuing to attack an innocent man. Our first filing in the case on July 10 included photographic evidence from before Mr. Hearn touched the Reflecting Pool proving that he caused no damage. Our other filings provided even more proof. Finally, the U.S. Attorney's own motion on July 31 admitted the damage was caused by a 'botched installation and not vandalism.' We are reviewing all legal remedies, including for this continued harassment. It is outrageous."

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