President Donald Trump‘s effort to punish an innocent man has been completely shot down by his own team.
On Oct. 1, the DOJ decided in the case against Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn, who faced accusations of damaging renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
A Superior Court judge didn’t just shut the door on Trump and his lawyers. He slammed it closed for good, calling out the pressure Trump allegedly applied behind the scenes.
A D.C. Superior Court judge permanently barred U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office from prosecuting Hearn for the damage caused by his no-bid contractors.
Judge Todd Edelman dismissed the case with prejudice, citing the case’s “exceptional circumstances.”
Edelman also said another indictment appeared highly unlikely.
In a joint statement to NBC News, Eisen and Hearn’s other attorneys — Mary Dohrmann, Steve Levin and Michael Bromwich noted the president’s “pressure” on his subordinate officers to revive the case.
This includes Trump’s criticism of prosecutors, calls to reinstate the charges, and remarks about possibly firing Pirro.
“This was a miscarriage of justice, and what happened to Mr. Hearn is an outrage that should shock every American,” they wrote. “This administration chose to pursue an unjust prosecution against Mr. Hearn. It should not get repeated chances to wield the power of criminal prosecution against someone who should never have been prosecuted. “
The company Trump hired has now undercut his claim that vandals caused the damage. Recent photos show broken fencing, litter, and construction debris around the drained pool.
Trump pitched the project as a shiny 250th-birthday gift to the nation. Now, the site looks more like an abandoned job site.
And the company Trump personally handed the contract to has already put in writing whose fault that is.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings told the administration in reports dated Aug. 14 and Sept. 2 that its own errors, not saboteurs, caused the pool’s new blue liner to peel and break loose, according to government documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Workers in some areas didn’t spray enough primer to bond the liner’s layers, the company said. The bigger issue was the rush job itself, which called for two chemicals that proved incompatible.
That plan came with a no-bid contract and an untested approach designed in part by the general manager of one of Trump’s golf clubs. Taxpayers are on the hook for $14.7 million.
It’s a long way from how Trump sold it. The renovation was rushed to beat the July 4 celebrations. Within days, the new “American flag blue” coating was peeling and algae was creeping in.
Trump went from claiming his team had tapes of “people cutting it with a box knife” to later admitting he had no footage of the damage.
On June 22, Trump told reporters someone had cut a “300 ft slit right through” the pool, “probably a box cutter.” At the time, five people were under investigation, including Olympic canoeist David Hearn.
By July 13, the damage had apparently tripled. In a Truth Social post announcing the drained pool, Trump claimed the slashes stretched “300 yards.” He also demanded the “hating” vandals “pay a big price.”
Two weeks later, his own Justice Department disagreed. In a July 31 filing, federal prosecutors called the installation “botched” and dropped all vandalism charges against Hearn.
Although Trump publicly rejected his administration’s findings, a judge formally dismissed the case on Aug. 7.
Then the weather piled on. A storm the night of Sept. 3 knocked over part of the fencing around the pool, as seen in one X post. On Sunday, Sept. 20, D.C. reporter Emily Miller found the northwest gate still broken and secured with a padlock. She stated that the white granite sides had been cleaned.
One person went straight for the prosecution that fell apart: “It was vandalism by ex-Olympians again, right?”
Another reply skipped the jokes entirely: “Because they fucking knew it was a bogus claim. The company themselves admitted it was their fault.”
A third person said, “Looking forward to Trump’s salty truth post about this.”
With this new court update and the vandal story refusing to die in Trump’s camp, many advised Hearn to sue the president for defamation or malice prosecution.
Earlier this month, a Trump ally kept pushing his version of the Reflecting Pool story despite mounting evidence.
Now, a judge has permanently barred prosecutors from reviving the case against David “Davey” Hearn. Prosecutors previously acknowledged that a botched installation caused the damage, not Hearn.
Meanwhile, contractors says the pool remains under warranty and will be redone. No word yet on when the water returns.
🚨MAJOR BREAKING: A DC judge has just permanently dismissed the case against the ex-Olympian charged with vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump should be charged instead. pic.twitter.com/ziQfdvuE06
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) October 1, 2026
