Ex-Olympic canoeist indicted for allegedly ‘vandalizing’ Trump’s $14m reflecting pool project

On Friday, a former three-time US Olympic canoeist was indicted for allegedly vandalizing newly renovated lining material on the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington on June 19. His lawyers refuted the allegations following his arrest and accused President Donald Trump’s administration of criminalizing a harmless action.

According to court documents, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro alleged that Hearn compromised the joint in a deliberate act that caused more than $1,000 in damage.

In a statement released by the Democracy Defenders Fund, co-founder Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrman said they represented Hearn and that the charges were alarming to every American.

Eisen and Dohramann interpreted the case as representative of “the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative.”

He previously told the Associated Press that he reached into the pool to inspect the newly peeled coating, and clarified that he only touched a chunk that was already peeling away from the edge of the pool.

“I'm a curious citizen," Hearn said in a telephone interview last month. "I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.”

The 67-year-old Hearn of Bethesda Md,. owns a company that manufactures compound materials used to build watercraft. As reported by the Sky News, Hearn further said he was detained by National Guard troops and US Park Police for five years before being released.

This comes days before the crews finished the Trump-ordered project to break the line with a color the President had called “ American flag blue” in time for celebrations to honour the US 250th anniversary on July 4.

Trump has launched the $14m project to commemorate the anniversary after receiving criticisms that the pool had been allowed to become algae-stained and green.

Earlier Trump claimed that vandals damaged the algae-plagued Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, insisting that the water must be drained and treated. He also confirmed that the police arrested many additional people for the vandalism, even though the pool was already peeling from the recent renovation.

The Interior Department told CNN at that time that the algae were "residual" and a standard preliminary step to restarting water flow. At present, it is unclear whether the material is flexible or what caused it to peel away from the button.

Trump on his Truth Social account said in June: “ We’ve had some real problems with vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool.”

In the following days, National Guard members and US Park Police monitored the deck around the reflecting pool as workers attempted to make repairs. Furthermore, contractors and federal workers used chemicals to combat an algae bloom with officials noting that resolving the issue might require draining the pool completely for comprehensive recoating.