In a significant reversal, the U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. has dropped vandalism charges against former Olympian David Hearn and others, acknowledging that the damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was caused by a flawed and rushed installation process.
Court filings reveal that the Department of the Interior failed to provide complete information to prosecutors, leading to the wrongful indictment of citizens. The project, which saw its budget balloon from under $2 million to an estimated $16 million, was awarded to a contractor without a competitive bidding process.
While President Trump has maintained that vandalism contributed to the pool's condition, the official court record now attributes the failure to a 'botched installation' overseen by the Department of the Interior in a rush to meet deadlines for the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations.
Hearn, who faced a potential 10-year prison sentence for simply touching the pool, had his case dismissed after the government admitted it lacked the evidence to support its initial claims.
The administration's failure to properly vet the contractor and the subsequent rush to judgment against individuals highlight a breakdown in oversight that resulted in the unnecessary targeting of private citizens.
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