The Trump administration’s criminal case over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool may be falling apart—and it’s happening because of the Justice Department’s own witness.
New court filings reveal that the government’s key witness told a grand jury the pool was already damaged before former Olympic canoeist David Hearn ever stepped into the water, undercutting the central claims behind the felony case against him.
According to NBC News, the witness was the only person who testified before the grand jury about damage to the Reflecting Pool. And instead of linking Hearn to the alleged destruction, the testimony suggested the damage already existed.
That’s a major problem for the Justice Department.
Hearn has pleaded not guilty to felony destruction of government property after prosecutors accused him of causing more than $1,000 in damage to the Reflecting Pool, an amount significant because it crosses the threshold needed to bring felony charges. At least three other people involved in separate incidents at the pool have been charged only with misdemeanors.
But Hearn insists he didn’t damage the pool at all.
“The condition of the Reflecting Pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there,” he has said, explaining that he merely touched a section of the pool’s coating that had already detached.
That account now appears to line up with what the government’s own witness told the grand jury.
According to Hearn’s attorneys, the witness testified that the Reflecting Pool had “substantial preexisting damage” and already required repairs before Hearn’s alleged conduct.
Even more damaging to the prosecution, the witness reportedly admitted the repairs would have been necessary regardless of Hearn’s actions and could not identify any measurable damage caused by him.
“The government’s only witness on that element testified that the property was already deteriorated, that the identified repairs would have been needed even without Mr. Hearn’s alleged conduct, and that he could not quantify any loss caused by that conduct,” Hearn’s attorneys wrote.
They argue the indictment itself now raises serious questions.
If prosecutors couldn’t establish that Hearn caused more than $1,000 in damage, or any damage at all, then why was he indicted on a felony charge in the first place?
His lawyers are now asking the court to determine whether the grand jury was even properly instructed on the legal requirements for the charge.
The testimony also clashes with President Donald Trump’s public narrative.
Trump has repeatedly claimed the Reflecting Pool was vandalized with a knife or blade that carved a “gash” into the lining. But so far, prosecutors have produced no public evidence supporting that allegation, and the grand jury testimony appears to point in the opposite direction.
Instead of proving Hearn destroyed federal property, the Justice Department’s own witness have confirmed that the Reflecting Pool was already damaged before he ever arrived.
For a prosecution built around claims of costly vandalism, having your only damage witness say the damage was already there is about as devastating as it gets.
