But in a court filing Friday evening, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the damage was caused by a “botched installation.” Photo by Jemal Countess/UPI. | License Photo
July 31 (UPI) — Trump administration prosecutors on Friday moved to dismiss the felony case against U.S. Olympian David Hearn, admitting that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was due to a “botched installation and not vandalism.”
Hearn, 67, was indicted by a federal grand jury early July on accusations that he purposefully ripped up a piece of the recently-installed blue sealant from the pool’s bottom.
President Donald Trump claimed the pool, which cost nearly $15 million to renovate, had been damaged by Hearn and other vandals.
But in a court filing Friday evening, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said she had been misled by the Interior Department into believing “nearly all of the damage” was done by vandals.
In charging Hearn, Pirro had said she had “tremendous evidence” that he committed a felony that could have landed him in prison for 10 years.
“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism,” Pirro wrote in court papers, The New York Times reported.
Pirro added the “botched” renovation “was the result of a flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration.”
In a statement, Hearn’s attorneys said, “The Trump administration’s case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought.”
“Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong,” the attorneys added. “The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim.
“The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.”