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A former Olympic rower pleaded not guilty Thursday to intentionally damaging the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a charge that his defense attorneys and other Trump administration critics deride as an abuse of prosecutorial power.
David Hearn, who competed in three summer Olympics, entered the plea during his first appearance in DC Superior Court. Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Md., was charged last Thursday with one count of vandalism.
US President Donald Trump has ordered a multimillion-dollar overhaul of the pool ahead of its 250th anniversary this month, but the project has been plagued by problems.
Workers used chemicals to prevent algae blooms. Trump said the lake may need to be drained again to repair the line after pieces of blue clothing were seen floating on the surface.
Trump said without confirmation that vandals dumped fertilizer in the lake and cut a hole with a box cutter. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the chief prosecutor for the District of Columbia, said last week that six other people were arrested on charges of misconduct related to the $22.6 million (about $16 million Cdn) pool project.
Hearn’s lawyers say the charges against him are based on “fiction” and “should shock every American.”
“This case shows the management’s attempt to blame for their failure,” the lawyers said in a statement. “The judicial system exists to determine facts, not to serve politics.”
Hearn previously told The Associated Press that he was arrested by National Guard soldiers and US park rangers five hours after he stopped by a lake during a 100-mile bike ride on June 19.
He said he reached in to check the freshly peeled coat and briefly touched the part attached to the side of the pool, but he listened to the park employee who told him to let go.
Pirro accused Hearn of causing more than $1,000 US (about $1,400 Cdn) in damage by ripping off a newly installed pool cover and rebelling against an employee who told him to stop.
US President Donald Trump’s attempt to repair and repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, is not going as planned. Andrew Chang breaks down the race to fix a host of issues on Independence Day, from large curbs of peeling paint to swamp algae blooms. (Image credits: The Canadian Press, Reuters, Adobe Stock and Getty Images)
