Overview
- Federal prosecutors asked a judge on Friday to dismiss the criminal case against David Hearn after receiving Interior Department records showing installation failures at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
- Hearn was arrested on June 19 and had been federally charged with felony destruction of property, facing up to ten years in prison before the prosecution withdrew the case.
- Court filings say the pool’s coating delaminated because workers applied materials hastily and then public employees added chemicals to fight an algal bloom, a combination experts say can strip coatings from pool floors.
- The renovation, paid for at roughly $14–14.7 million and awarded without standard public bidding to a contractor with reported ties to President Trump, is now the focus of oversight questions and repair costs.
- President Trump continues to insist the damage was caused by vandalism and has publicly criticized the prosecutor, while Hearn’s lawyers demand an apology and calls grow for clearer procurement and accountability rules.