Trump Rejects DOJ Finding on Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Damage

The Justice Department filed a court motion this week concluding that the $14 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was “hasty and botched,” and it moved to dismiss the criminal case against former Olympian David Hearn. Hearn had been charged with vandalism after a blue liner peeled away from the pool in June 2026. President Donald Trump publicly rejected the department’s conclusion, maintaining that vandals were responsible for the damage.

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The renovation, ordered by Trump in May 2026, painted the pool’s bottom an intense blue and was intended to be finished before the Fourth of July celebrations. Shortly after the pool was refilled, green water and algae appeared, and portions of the liner began to peel. An email obtained by prosecutors shows a National Park Service engineer flagged peeling around the pool’s perimeter on June 11. Hearn was arrested on June 19 and indicted on July 2. Prosecutors later received additional Interior Department documents indicating that the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, had performed a rushed installation to meet events tied to the nation’s 250th-birthday celebrations.

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• Attorney’s office.

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• Hearn’s attorneys issued a statement calling the case “an abuse of government power” and demanding an apology from the administration.

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• The U.S. Attorney’s Office, led by Jeanine Pirro, noted that prosecutors could not view the full extent of the damage until July 17, after the pool was drained a second time.

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• Renovation cost: $14 million (Justice Department filing).

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• Damage timeline: peeling reported June 11; Hearn’s arrest June 19; indictment July 2; DOJ reversal announced late July 2026.

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• Three additional defendants were initially charged with misdemeanor vandalism; charges against at least two have also been dropped.

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• “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM,” — Donald Trump, president

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• “I don't know what she was thinking,” — Donald Trump, president

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