Olympian David Hearn indicted in Reflecting Pool destruction of property case

David Hearn of the USA competes in the Men's C1 whitewater canoeing final of the 2000 Summer Olympics on Sept. 18, 2000 at Penrith Whitewater Stadium in Penrith, Australia.

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U.S. Olympian canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, D.C., for destruction of property in connection with allegedly ripping up sealant in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Thursday.

Pirro said Hearn on June 19 willfully and "violently" damaged a two-square-foot piece of sealant at the pool, whose renovation has been a top priority for President Donald Trump this year.

Hearn, 67, faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted of the felony charge, which was filed in the District of Columbia. He was arrested on June 19 on a misdemeanor charge.

The three-time Olympian told The Washington Post after his arrest that he had been cycling when he stopped at the Reflecting Pool to look at it. While there, he said, he reached into the water to feel what a partially detached piece of blue liner felt like, after which he was arrested.

"I didn't vandalize anything," Hearn told The Post. "I didn't destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs."

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 to damage the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall that members of the National Park Service actually have worked hard to restore, and have witnessed."

"National Park employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands," Pirro said.

"According to witnesses, Hearn damaged approximately two square feet of sealant from the bottom of the pool," the prosecutor said.

When a Park Service employee told Hearn to stop, he shouted at her and told her she cared too much about the Reflecting Pool, according to Pirro.

Hearn's lawyers, Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, in a statement said, "Davey Hearn is innocent."

"These charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American," the attorneys said.

" This indictment reflects the Administration's effort to shift blame for their own failures. On the eve of our nation's Independence Day, Americans should be deeply concerned by the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative. The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover."

Pirro said the Reflecting Pool is one of the national landmarks and monuments "that belong to all of us.

"And they must be protected for generations to come," she said.

The prosecutor said her office was handling about six other cases involving alleged vandalism at the Reflecting Pool.

"Some of them will be misdemeanors, and some of them could be less like a violation, but we're reviewing every case based upon the evidence and reviewing all of the reports, and right now it's about another half dozen misdemeanors," Pirro said.

A reporter asked Pirro how she squared charging Heard with Trump's pardon of more than a thousand people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which led to the postponement of a joint session of Congress that was confirming Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election to former President Joe Biden.

"Are you really talkin about Jan. 6?" Pirro asked.

"Yes," the reporter replied.

"I'm not," Pirro said.