David Hearn of the USA competes in the Men’s C1 whitewater canoeing final of the 2000 Summer Olympics on September 18, 2000 at Penrith Whitewater Stadium in Penrith, Australia.
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US Olympian David Hearn has been indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, on charges of vandalism in connection with his alleged vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Thursday.
Pirro said that Hearn on June 19 deliberately and “violently” damaged a square meter of sealant in the pool, the repair of which has been a priority for President Donald Trump this year.
Hearn, 67, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted of the crime, which was filed in the District of Columbia. He was arrested on June 19 for disorderly conduct.
The three-time Olympian told The Washington Post after his arrest that he was riding a bicycle when he stopped at the Reflecting Pool to watch it. While he was there, he put his hand in the water to feel what the slightly trapped blue piece felt like, and then he was arrested.
“I didn’t destroy anything,” Hearn told The Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. When I realized what was happening I was handcuffed.”
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro (C) speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on July 2, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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But Pirro, speaking at a press conference, said, “This was a deliberate act of damaging the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall that members of the National Park Service actually worked hard to restore, and they saw it.”
“National Park staff saw Hearn struggling to remove the bottom line with both hands,” Pirro said.
“According to witnesses, Hearn damaged approximately two square meters of sealant from the bottom of the pool,” the prosecutor said.
When a Park Service employee told Hearn to stop, he yelled at her and told her that he cared more about the Reflecting Pool, according to Pirro.
Hearn’s attorneys, Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, said in a statement, “Davey Hearn is innocent.”
“These cases are outrageous and should shock every American,” the attorneys said.
“This case shows the Administration’s attempt to blame its own failure. On the eve of our nation’s Independence Day, Americans should be deeply concerned about the abuse of government power against the average citizen based on a fictional story. The justice system exists to determine facts, not to serve politics.”
Pirro said the Reflecting Pool is one of the landmarks and monuments that “belong to all of us.”
“And future generations must be protected,” he said.
The prosecutor said his office was handling six other cases involving the destruction of property at the Reflecting Pool.
“Some of them will be felonies, and some of them may be violations of the law, but we review every case based on the evidence and we review every report, and right now it’s about twenty-two cases,” Pirro said.
The reporter asked Pirro what he did to charge Heard with Trump’s pardon of more than a thousand people who participated in the violence of January 6, 2021, at the US Capitol, which led to the postponement of the joint session of Congress that confirmed Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election to then-President Joe Biden.
“Are you really talking about Jan. 6?” Pirro asked.
“Yes,” answered the reporter.
“I’m not,” said Pirro.
