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Framed Olympian plots legal revenge over Trump’s 'continued harassment'

As President Donald Trump was drawing intense criticism over the damage the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool suffered, he turned his anger against former Olympian David Hearn — accusing him, without evidence, of vandalizing the pool. Now, according to Hearn's attorneys, he is considering legal action against Trump in response to the false accusation.

Hearn's attorneys — Democracy Defenders Fund's Norm Eisen, the Washington Litigation Group's Mary Dohrmann, and Steptoe LLP's Steve Levin — told Mediaite, "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."

Federal prosecutor and Trump appointee Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host, dropped the case against Hearn on July 31 — acknowledging that allegations she got from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum didn't pass the smell test.

According to Pirro, "the damage" that the Reflecting Pool suffered "was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism as initially represented by DOI."

Trump addressed the matter in a Sunday, August 9 post on his Truth Social platform, claiming, "ALERT: 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."

Trump went on to write, "The National Park Service employee provided this witness testimony to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in early July, as seen below. Numerous other events took place, including using an acid like material on the just installed grass adjoining the Pool. On it were written the letters, '86 47,' a phrase probably gotten from James Comey. There was substantial other damage to the Reflecting Pool, also but, unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself. We are working on the Pool, and it will reopen shortly. As with many jobs, there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening, but it was a very small area of this massive Pool, and was relatively inconsequential. Security cameras have been, and are being, installed. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP."

But Trump got a fact-check from journalist Paul Farhi.

On X, formerly Twitter, Farhi posted, "So it was all a coverup? By the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney? The Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who loyally stood by the president every night on her national television show, including going to bat for his election lies? Which cost her employer $787.5 million? Heckuva coverup."

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Trump’s Reflecting Pool witch hunt takes a new turn

On Wednesday morning, attorneys for Olympian David Hearn – who has been facing charges of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool – filed a motion to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” arguing that he fears President Donald Trump may try to come after him again.

This is according to Lawfare editor Roger Parloff, who tweeted a screenshot of the motion, explaining, “Reflecting Pool defendant David Hearn, responding to Judge Jeanine [Pirro’s] conduct after filing a motion to dismiss, seeks dismissal with prejudice. Trump’s [and Secretary of the Interior Doug] Burgum’s conduct after dismissal show case’s political motivation and danger of harassment and re-prosecution.”

In the motion, Hearn’s lawyers emphasize that the case was “motivated by political considerations,” noting that both Trump and Burgum have “publicly attacked” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s decision to file for dismissal after she realized the case was groundless. Hearn’s attorneys argue that the Department of Justice has “repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to seek or reinstate criminal charges to satisfy the president, irrespective of the law or facts.” In light of “this risk of harassment and bad faith,” they requested “dismissal with prejudice,” which would close the case permanently.

Trump’s case against Hearn has blown up in spectacular fashion in recent days, after Pirro was forced to admit that the evidence was clear: the Reflecting Pool damage was caused by installation failures rather than vandals. Trump was furious with this outcome, telling reporters that she “choked” and “folded like an umbrella,” and that he was “100 percent” certain the damage was due to vandalism.

In the latest motion, Hearn’s attorneys cite a National Parks Service assessment from before the indictment that contradicts Trump’s claims, noting preexisting peeling and damage at “numerous locations throughout the pool.” The assessment suggests that vandalism was “possible,” but that it came “after initial peeling.” This has been a sticking point in the case for weeks. In mid-July, the government’s own witnesses admitted that photos of the damage were taken before Hearn touched the water, drawing into question how he could have been the culprit. He has maintained that he did touch the water and torn pool liner, but only to examine preexisting damage.

Now, Hearn’s attorneys say that “all options are on the table” when it comes to seeking recourse for his 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.”

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Trump accidentally exposes his own role in 'mendacious scheme'

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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Trump keeps pressure on Pirro as aides beg him to drop 'nuts' obsession

Although federal prosecutor and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro has been a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, the U.S. president questioned her loyalty after she dropped a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) case against former Olympian David Hearn — who Trump accused, without evidence, of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Pirro stated that there was no case and no credible evidence against Hearn. But Trump, according to The Hill, wants Pirro to reopen the case despite her objections. And he is reportedly considering firing Pirro from DOJ.

Journalists Julia Manchester and Sophie Brams, reporting in The Hill, explain, "It's unclear whether President Trump will ultimately fire U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro, a longtime ally, but his recent comments and posts about the Reflecting Pool signal he is not letting the possibility go anytime soon. Pirro's future in the Trump administration has not yet been guaranteed roughly a week after Trump lashed out at the former Fox News host over her move to drop vandalism charges against U.S. Olympian David Hearn."

In a Friday, August 7 post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, " Now that people are able to see it up close, they are reporting pure VANDALISM at The Reflecting Pool…. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro should re-visit her hastily made decision." But with the 2026 midterms less than three months away, some Trump allies believe that his obsession with Hearn isn't doing Republicans any good.

Manchester and Brams report, "Some Republicans say they view the entire saga surrounding the Reflecting Pool, as well as the administration's other renovation projects, as an unnecessary distraction when the president's focus should be on the midterms."

A former senior Trump White House official, interviewed on condition of anonymity, told The Hill, "He needs to focus on the economy, wrapping up the Iran war and nothing else if he's going to have any chance of holding the House. If Trump loses the House or Senate, the Reflecting Pool will be the least of his problems. He won't get the Arch, he won't get the ballroom, and he won't get the statues. So, he needs to remember that."

That source also told The Hill, "The fact that he is still wasting even a moment thinking about the Reflecting Pool with under three months before the midterms is just nuts."

Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, however, is furious with Pirro.

During a Monday, August 10 appearance on Steve Bannon's "War Room" vodcast, Navarro angrily said, "Never mention her friggin' name to me because that woman still refuses to fire John Crabb, the prosecutor who was involved in putting you and me behind bars. Jeanine, are you listening?"

Law professor and former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade, a frequent legal analyst for MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), argues it is highly improper for Trump to be pressuring Pirro in this way.

DOJ alumni McQuade told The Hill, "(Justice Department) policy specifically provides that partisan politics may not be considered in such (charging) decisions. Pirro should be free to make her own decisions based on facts, independent from White House interference. That's what it means to live in a democracy that upholds the rule of law."

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Trump’s DOJ meddling threw him under the bus 'he himself was driving'

A series of President Donald Trump’s latest attempts to “meddle” in the Department of Justice have backfired, not only torpedoing his own cases, but causing major problems for his administration. This is according to New York Times legal analyst Alan Feuer, who wrote on Monday how, immediately upon returning to office, Trump “muscled his way into the driver’s seat at the Justice Department, leaving tread marks on its time-honored independence from the White House by demanding, and sometimes directing, investigations into his enemies. But his tight grip on the steering wheel has often threatened to lead the department off a cliff.”

As Feuer explains, the past week has offered perfect examples of how Trump’s attempts to weaponize the DOJ have blown up in his face. Trump’s meddling “imperiled one criminal case, set the stage for sanctions in a second and gummed up the chances that his pick for attorney general will be confirmed by the Senate.”

Feuer says that Trump’s latest batch of DOJ problems began last week, when court documents in the case against former FBI Director James Comey — who is accused of threatening Trump’s assassination by posting a photo of seashells spelling out “86-47” — revealed that the president had orchestrated a plot with the Secret Service to track Comey’s phone in a way that was “legally questionable.” Trump had been following the effort to surveil Comey from Air Force One, and wanted to use the Secret Service agents’ notes in a media appearance later that night.

“The request for the notes was a shocking breach of the distance that most presidents have kept from the day-to-day oversight of criminal investigations and indicated the intensity of Mr. Trump’s personal involvement in the pursuit of Mr. Comey, one of his most reviled political adversaries,” writes Feuer. “But his insistence on interfering with the case could come back to haunt him. After all, Mr. Comey’s lawyers pointed to the episode as evidence that the Justice Department had indicted him — on charges of making threats against the president — only as an act of retribution. If that claim is proven true, it would result in the case being dismissed.”

Trump’s meddling may have also sunk his case against former Olympian David Hearn, who is accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool during the renovation debacle earlier in the summer. On Friday, however, the case fell apart “in a spectacular fashion” when U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro — an avid Trump loyalist — “in a court filing, suddenly acknowledged that new information from Mr. Trump’s Interior Department had made her realize that shoddy construction, not anything that Mr. Hearn had done, caused the problems with the pool’s lining.”

“But even that confession did not stop Mr. Trump from doubling down on the vandalism narrative,” writes Feuer. “On Saturday morning, he posted a message on social media saying that he disagreed entirely with Ms. Pirro, a veteran prosecutor and a friend of his for more than 40 years. ‘I don’t know what she was thinking?’ Mr. Trump wrote. While Mr. Hearn's lawyers have not disclosed what they might do next, the case’s collapse gives them an opening to argue that the president’s stubborn statements about the matter suggest the prosecution was vexatious, frivolous or brought in bad faith.”

What’s more, explains Feuer, “The president’s inability to keep his hands to himself also affected another important bit of business at the Justice Department: the effort to confirm Todd Blanche, Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, as attorney general.”

By last week, Blanche seemed to have removed the key obstacle to his appointment: appeasing Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), who were blocking his confirmation due to his unwillingness to commit to ending Trump’s “slush fund” in writing. But according to Feuer, “As the weekend neared, the president seemed to throw Mr. Blanche under the bus that he himself was driving, issuing a series of confusing and contradictory messages.”

Trump suddenly announced that he would withdraw Blanche’s nomination for confirmation and wait until the two lame duck senators left office, repeating his support for creating the fund, which Blanche had just claimed was dead. The next day, he threatened to revive the fund if Blanche wasn’t confirmed. Tillis was “baffled and dispirited” by all of this, saying, “It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal."

While by Sunday, there appeared to have been a breakthrough that will allow Blanche’s confirmation, owing to what he described as “good faith discussions” with senators, “as of Monday morning, Mr. Trump had not yet weighed in on the plan,” which could very well still be torpedoed by the president’s meddling.

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Demands grow for facts on how Trump's Reflecting Pool lie was 'cooked up'

On Tuesday, following the dramatic collapse of President Donald Trump’s case against Olympian David Hearn and others accused of vandalising the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, top Senate Democrats on two committees that oversee the Interior Department demanded that the agency’s inspector general investigate how the vandalism lie was “cooked up” in the first place.

According to exclusive reporting by the Washington Post, “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.” Now Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) of the Environment and Public Works and the Energy and Natural Resources committees, respectively, called for an “immediate investigation” into whether Interior Department officials misled the president about the cause of the damage.

“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?” Whitehouse and Heinrich wrote to the inspector general’s office. In the letter, they demand to know “what employees of the Department of the Interior knew — and when they knew it — regarding the peeling of the coating and other engineering issues at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.” While Trump had been vocal about his demands for the prosecution of Hearn and others accused of vandalism, the Senators noted that the Interior’s own documentation acknowledged the damage was caused by “a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout.”

As the letter mentions, Trump has repeatedly declared that vandals had cut a 250-foot-gash — at times increasing that number to 350 feet — using a “very sharp knife or razors," even though the drained pool later showed no evidence of this. And even after the Department of Justice found that the Interior knew the damage was caused by faulty installation, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum continued to push Trump’s already debunked claim, tweeting, “The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool.”

According to the Post, “A spokesman for the inspector general declined to comment on the letter. The inspector general, which is intended to be an independent watchdog of the agency’s actions, is not bound to open an investigation.”

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Trump Reflecting Pool lawyers just blew up their own case

Evidence presented by government prosecutors arguing against Olympian David Hearn, who stands accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, may have already blown the case. According to Lawfare senior editor Roger Parloff, evidence contained in the government’s original warrant provides obvious, photographic proof that he could not have vandalized the pool.

As Parloff posted on Wednesday, “Attys for Reflecting Pool defendant David Hearn say govt witness told govt that photos Hearn took showing damaged liner (published in WaPo, e.g.) were taken *before* he touched the water — drawing into question how he could’ve damaged it.” Parloff wrote this over a screenshot of one of the photos, which a caption says was taken just before his arrest and shows a partially detached piece of the pool liner.

So a government witness has already noted that the pictures were taken before he touched the water, and what’s more, writes Parloff, the government’s own seizure warrant for Hearn’s phone “admits that Hearn’s photos were taken before the touching.”

“In other words,” argues the defense, “Mr Hearn’s widely published photo proves that he caused no damage to the Reflecting Pool.”

This is a humiliating turn for President Donald Trump, who raged about the prosecution of alleged Reflecting Pool “vandals” who he claims caused tears in the pool liner and blooms of algae, despite providing no evidence. According to the Associated Press, “Hearn has said he reached inside the pool to examine the peeled sealant and let go of a chunk when he was told to by a park worker. He is accused of causing more than $1,000 in damage.”

“Every American should be alarmed about this prosecution,” said Hearn’s attorney after he pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Thursday. “It is not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool.”

At the hearing, which the AP says was “packed” with spectators, “D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean did not require Hearn to be supervised by the court while he is free awaiting a trial. A status hearing was scheduled for Aug. 5. A prosecutor, Kevin Reddington, said the government wasn’t seeking any court supervision for Hearn, but just a ‘stay-away order’ without specifying in court where it wanted to keep Hearn away from. Mary Dohrmann, one of Hearn’s attorneys, urged the judge not to impose any conditions of court supervision, calling Hearn an ‘upstanding citizen and member of the community.’”

“The government’s evidence is weak,” she added.

Hearn’s attorneys have argued that the case is based on a “concocted narrative,” asserting that “this indictment reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures. The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover.”

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White House agenda in meltdown as Trump drifts 'further from reality'

On Tuesday, a conservative journalist offered a stark assessment of President Donald Trump’s recent behavior, writing that the Commander in Chief has “drifted further from reality.” What’s more, the White House agenda has been thrown into increasing chaos as a growing number of people “wake up” to his lies.

This is according to Bulwark contributor Andrew Egger, who writes, “It’s been stranger than usual, watching Donald Trump operate this week. The president has long lived on a different planet from the rest of us — a world defined by his own personal information bubble of yes-men and online fans shouting his praises. But it’s rarely been so clear just how far Trump’s planet is from our reality.”

Egger notes the example of the war with Iran, explaining, “To hear the president tell it, America is forever on the verge of total victory. He is perpetually giving the mullahs one last, last, last chance to surrender before he turns their country into a parking lot — then inventing some pretext to call off the attack, pretending Iran has waved some secret white flag and is ready to make a deal.” But after several such cycles, “Iran is barely bothering even to participate in this charade.”

Trump did it again over the weekend, threatening to bomb Iran using “Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II,” before calling it off with claims that a deal had been struck that would open the Strait of Hormuz and end the Iranian nuclear program. As Egger writes, “We’ve seen this movie before: What Trump is describing is essentially the memorandum of understanding that he signed back in June, which has been out of force for weeks. This time, however, his assertions are even more fanciful: No such deal exists, and no talks are ongoing.” Iran said as much, which “led to another tantrum from Trump, who called Iran ‘unbelievably duplicitous’ in a post yesterday, but declined to resume his threats of devastating military action.”

Egger also raises the example of Trump’s Reflecting Pool debacle, which blew up in U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s face over the past week. As Egger explains, “After contriving a government-wide effort to lie that the pool’s lining had been damaged by vandals, including ex-Olympian David Hearn, the administration quietly dropped the charges and admitted what had been obvious all along: The lining had been faultily installed. But this was not obvious to everyone. Donald Trump spent yesterday spinning up a totally different tale: that Hearn was guilty, that a hostile judge in the case had been ‘really vicious,’ and that his handpicked D.C. prosecutor had simply wilted under the pressure. Pirro ‘choked,’ he complained to reporters. She had ‘folded like an umbrella.’”

“Pirro could never have done anything else,” notes Egger. “She wasn’t going to risk getting herself disbarred over hallucinated damage to the Reflecting Pool. But her position in the White House now dangles by a thread. Trump dressed her down in a phone call Saturday, then summoned her to the White House yesterday evening for more recriminations. Whether Pirro will survive the trip back to our planet remains to be seen.”

“Every time you look, Trump seems to have drifted further from our reality,” writes Egger. “His poll numbers have never been worse, but don’t try to tell him that: ‘My REAL Polling Numbers,’ he insisted yesterday, ‘are the best they have ever been.’” Egger goes on to list a litany of examples from the different reality on “Trump’s planet:” the constant AI slop posts, reposts of articles from March declaring how well the war is going, lying brags about his golf game, and more.

“Trump has spent a decade trying to drag us along the path of his own suspended reality,” Egger concludes, “but something has snapped; the real world has moved back onto its own course. Trump’s planet — where America is the hottest country in the world, Iran has been brought to its knees, vandals who destroyed the Reflecting Pool will be brought to justice, and he is extraordinarily popular and oh so good at golf — is so far from Earth it can no longer be seen with the naked eye. And as more and more people begin to wake up to this fact, the president is making no effort to reverse thrust. Already his world cannot be seen except through our most powerful telescopes; soon we may be unable to see him at all.”

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Judge explodes over tampered evidence in disastrous Trump-linked trial

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro made a significant enough mistake that one legal expert says was incredibly stupid.

A bombshell report on Monday revealed that the government's own witness in the David Hearn case over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Hearn is being accused of grabbing the pool lining with both hands and ripping it up.

The DOJ's witness revealed that the damage the DOJ alleges came from Hearn was already there before Hearn arrived.

An even bigger bungle, however, comes from an observation from writer and lawyer Amee Vanderpool, who runs the "Shero" Substack.

Citing an NBC News report about the case, saying that the person who indicated the pool was already damaged spoke to the grand jury about the damage prior to Hearn.

Beyond the fact that it sinks the DOJ's case, Vanderpool explained that by "using this" information, lawyers for Hearn "can now get all of the Reflecting Pool repair documents (and all documentation that is missing) in disclosure."

Hearn's lawyers are asking for information about the disclosure and legal instructions grand jurors were given. They want to see the trial minutes, which will detail the dialogue line by line.

In a different case involving six activists and politicians who protested outside of an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois, it was discovered that the grand jury was being given conflicting information that wasn't factual and that the prosecutors were talking about defendants as if they were already found to be guilty. Anyone who looked to be wavering was excused from the jury.

It's unclear whether the DOJ did the same in this case, but Hearn's lawyers having access to all of the information may reveal what happened in the grand jury as well as a slate of other details.

Hearn's lawyers will be able to see documents involving the Reflecting Pool contractors, why they were chosen in a no-bid contract and why the costs were so much higher than President Donald Trump said they would be.

"Jeanine Pirro is an idiot to pursue this," said Vanderpool.

Last week, the judge in the case warned the DOJ that all of the workers looking at fixes to the pool and tearing up the liner were tampering with evidence.

“Non-preservation,” the judge told the DOJ, “the government does it at its own peril.”

One of Hearn's long-time friends, Adam Van Grack, who once served as chair of the U.S. Olympic governing body for canoe and kayak sports, said that going after Hearn was a mistake.

"The U.S. government could not have picked a worse person to be the headliner felony defendant in this trial," Van Grack told The Atlantic.

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Exonerated ex-Olympian just put the Trump administration on notice

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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The plot to protect Trump’s wounded ego is unraveling: analysis

President Donald Trump's renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been a humiliating disaster. As lawyer Norm Eisen alleged, Trump tried to save face by scapegoating his client, David Hearn, and claiming that vandals were responsible for the failed installation of the liner he decided the pool needed.

As Greg Sargent explained for The New Republic, things are about to get much worse.

Sargent spoke with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is likely to become the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats take over Congress after November. Raskin wants to know what happened and who lied.

“Judiciary Democrats will investigate who lied, who buried the evidence, and who decided to threaten an American citizen with prison simply to protect Trump’s wounded feelings and continuing corruption,” Raskin told Sargent. “Participants in this frame-up will be held to account.”

U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, dismissed charges against Olympian David Hearn after the government's evidence made it clear that the damage being blamed on Hearn was there before Hearn was. At one point, Trump even tried to blame ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl for "trying to rip the rubber off." Trump decided that his pool couldn't have been a failure attributed to his project. He needed someone to blame.

Sargent said, "This was surely understood by Pirro and Burgum as a command to make it true that vandalism caused the renovation’s failure."

Pirro's big press conference announcing Hearn as the new target was based on the information the Department of the Interior gave her, not based on an actual investigation by law enforcement. So, her announcement that Hearn was being indicted and that there was "tremendous evidence” of his guilt didn't come from evidence. Pirro was ultimately forced to admit that the prosecutors from the Department of the Interior collected evidence showing that the lining failures came from a "botched" installation and not individuals. It was a humiliating blow for Trump.

So, there is a larger question about how Pirro was able to secure an indictment from the Grand Jury Hearn on July 2 when there was no evidence to prove his guilt and what the Trump administration did behind the scenes to secure the indictment. Pirro blames Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, saying that he intentionally misled her office about the evidence they had.

As Sargent explained, "But under ethics guidelines, prosecutors aren’t supposed to bring indictments unless they really think the charges are supported. Shouldn’t Pirro have looked more skeptically at this “evidence” before throwing the book at Hearn?"

“The notion that they did not know that there was a botched, rushed renovation of the Reflecting Pool does not hold water,” Eisen told Sargent.

Unlike other cases where Trump has targeted someone unfairly, the case is either dropped or thrown out, and the grateful victim tries to move on with their life. That's not happening this time. Eisen and Hearn want to know what the grand jury was told to get the indictment because it clearly wasn't true. Someone had to have lied to the grand jury, and there are penalties for that.

Eisen explained that instead of dropping the case and moving on, the case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could charge Hearn again later. So, they're still fighting for Hearn's innocence, and they want to know what the grand jury was told.

Former federal prosecutor Daniel R. Alonso told Sargent, "Courts are generally very reluctant to grant access to grand jury transcripts." In this case, however, Alonso said, Hearn has "more than a colorable argument."

Eisen may be able to catch the administration in a lie that tracks back to the president himself. It would be a humiliating blow.

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