David Hearn, a 67-year-old three-time Olympic canoe racer from Bethesda, Maryland, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a felony charge of property destruction linked to alleged damage at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. Hearn entered his plea through an attorney during an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court, where Judge Carmen McLean did not impose any supervision conditions while he remains free ahead of trial. A status hearing has been scheduled for 5 August. Dozens of supporters carrying homemade signs gathered outside the courthouse and greeted Hearn with cheers as he left.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — the long, rectangular pool stretching between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument that is one of the capital's most recognisable landmarks — underwent a multimillion-dollar resealing and repainting project this spring, championed by President Donald Trump as part of a broader effort to beautify Washington ahead of the United States' 250th anniversary. Estimated to have cost between $13 million and $16 million, the renovation has been beset by problems from the start: chunks of blue sealant began peeling off within days of application, and algae blooms prompted chemical treatments. The pool has since been drained for the second time in three months.
Hearn was detained by National Guard troops and U.S. Park Police for five hours on 19 June after stopping by the pool during a 64-mile bike ride. He says he reached in to examine coating that had already peeled away from the pool's side, briefly touching it, and released it when instructed to do so by a park worker. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro alleged last week that Hearn had "ripped" freshly installed sealant from the pool in a deliberate act, causing more than $1,000 in damage, and that he behaved belligerently toward a park employee. Hearn has denied tearing, ripping, or removing any part of the pool's coating. Five others were arrested on misdemeanor charges related to the renovation project, and five additional people received federal citations.
Hearn's legal team has strongly disputed the prosecution's account, calling it a "concocted narrative" and an abuse of prosecutorial power. Attorney Norm Eisen, speaking outside the courthouse, argued that the indictment amounts to political scapegoating. "This indictment reflects the administration's effort to shift blame for their own failures," his lawyers said in a statement. "The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover." Trump, for his part, has claimed without substantiating evidence that vandals used a box cutter to slash the pool's liner and dumped fertiliser into the water — assertions that experts have questioned.
The case has drawn wide attention because of what critics say it reveals about the boundaries of federal prosecution. "If Mr Hearn can be charged with a felony for touching the Reflecting Pool, every American is at risk," Eisen told reporters. The outcome may hinge on sharply conflicting accounts of what exactly occurred on 19 June — and on whether prosecutors can establish that any deliberate damage, rather than a pre-existing defect in the troubled renovation, caused the harm alleged.