WASHINGTON — David Hearn, a former U.S. Olympic canoeist, pleaded not guilty Thursday to a vandalism charge tied to an incident at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where authorities allege he pulled at the “American-flag blue” sealant installed along the pool’s bottom during the Trump administration.
Hearn’s attorney, Mary Dohrmann, entered the plea for him during a short appearance before D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean, describing her client as an “upstanding” resident with longstanding connections to Washington.
“It is not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” another member of Hearn’s defense team, Norm Eisen, told reporters outside the courthouse.
Hearn was first arrested on June 19. He later told The Washington Post that he had taken hold of a “flapping piece” of sealant that “was still attached to the bottom” of the pool, but insisted he “didn’t destroy or break or peel anything.”
“If Mr. Hearn can be charged with a felony for touching the Reflecting Pool, every American is at risk — and every American should be alarmed about this prosecution,” Eisen said Thursday.
“This indictment reflects the administration’s effort to scapegoat Davey and to shift blame for their own failures,” he added.
While Eisen addressed the media, Hearn’s supporters displayed signs deriding the landmark as the “Deflecting Pool.”
“We will litigate these issues vigorously,” Eisen continued. “We have confidence in our justice system to see through this misuse of government power against an ordinary American based on a false and politicized narrative.”
DC US Attorney Jeanine Pirro charged the three-time Olympian July 2 with one felony count of destruction of property after personally inspecting the site and proclaiming that Hearn committed “a deliberate act” in tampering with the pool’s liner.
According to Pirro, the evidence will show “National Park Service employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands.”
Witnesses claimed Hearn “damaged approximately two square feet of sealant from the bottom of the pool,” Pirro added.
Video footage posted on X by journalist Emily Miller showed Hearn being cuffed next to his bicycle after noting the peeled-back lining was “really funny.”
President Trump later claimed seven people received citations and six were arrested in connection with purported damage, including a “350 foot gash, made by a very sharp knife or razors.”
More than $16 million has already been shelled out for taxpayer-funded renovations at the site after Trump vowed to make the historic location “as beautiful as it can be” for the 4th of July.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum confirmed Sunday that crews had begun the process of draining the 6.75 million-gallon pool for the second time in three months following celebrations of America’s 250th birthday on the National Mall.
A nasty algae bloom has also developed in the pool, which Trump attributed to vandals pouring in fertilizer, even though the federal government has battled unslightly green growths since the completion of the Reflecting Pool in 1922.
The Interior Department picked Atlantic Industrial Coatings to apply the sealant after the pool was first drained in April, and the Virginia-based company was picked again to fix the tears in the lining.
Prosecutors claimed Thursday that there would be “a lot” of evidence against Hearn and advocated for the imposition of a stay-away order on the 67-year-old Bethesda, Md. native.
The defense objected to the proposed order, and Judge McLean declined to grant it.
Hearn was released on a personal recognizance bond, with a status conference for Aug. 5.
The earliest Hearn could go to trial is February 2027, according to McLean.
