{"id":1400,"date":"2026-08-11T04:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1400"},"modified":"2026-08-11T04:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:35:08","slug":"dems-will-investigate-trump-admins-reflecting-pool-vandalism-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1400","title":{"rendered":"Dems Will Investigate Trump Admin\u2019s Reflecting Pool \u201cVandalism\u201d Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- begin partial\/series-card --><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><i><span>Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with <\/span><\/i><i><span>a donation<\/span><\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1399\">Trump Blames Iran for Gaza Genocide as He Demands \u201cCompensation\u201d From Tehran<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have indicated that they are readying an investigation into the Trump administration\u2019s decision to charge former Olympian David Hearn with alleged acts of vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.<\/p>\n<p><em>The New Republic\u2019s <\/em>Greg Sargent reported on the plan on Monday. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, divulged the idea to Sargent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJudiciary Democrats will investigate who lied, who buried the evidence, and who decided to threaten an American citizen with prison simply to protect Trump\u2019s wounded feelings and continuing corruption,\u201d Raskin said. \u201cParticipants in this frame-up will be held to account.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this summer, Hearn was biking near the pool when he stopped to dip his hand in, as reports of the pool being damaged after chemicals were sprayed into the water to address a growing algae problem were making national headlines. After touching a piece of blue material that came off the bottom of the pool, he was arrested by National Park Service (NPS) officials, and later charged with felony level vandalism. <\/p>\n<p>However, on July 31, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped charges against Hearn. Per her office, documents obtained from within the Interior Department \u2014 which, publicly, was echoing President Donald Trump\u2019s claims of vandals damaging the pool \u2014 indicated that the damage was likely caused by the company hired to renovate the pool. <\/p>\n<p>Norm Eisen, one of Hearn\u2019s attorneys, told Sargent that it was always obvious that his client didn\u2019t cause the damage. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe notion that they did not know that there was a botched, rushed renovation of the Reflecting Pool does not hold water,\u201d Eisen said. <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1398\">Trump Says Voters Are \u201cAngry at Republicans,\u201d Not Him<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Raskin\u2019s push to open an investigation into the decision to charge Hearn will include requests for interdepartmental communications within the Trump administration. As the minority party in Congress, Democratic lawmakers\u2019 investigation may be limited, depending on whether they can compel the administration to cooperate. But the decision to look into the matter may indicate how Democrats plan to act should they win Congress in the midterms, thus gaining subpoena powers come January. <\/p>\n<p>Even though the case against Hearn has been dropped, Trump has nonetheless continued to hammer the idea that Hearn and others were responsible for damage to the reflecting pool, claiming in a Truth Social post on Sunday that an employee of the National Park Service witnessed Hearn \u201crip\u201d the blue coating from the pool. <\/p>\n<p>No other evidence exists to demonstrate that this is true, and within that post, Trump admitted there \u201cwas also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening,\u201d though he maintained that most of the damage was due to vandalism. <\/p>\n<p>Notably, Trump\u2019s \u201cvandalism\u201d claims contradict previous statements he has made regarding the renovation project. In May, for example, Trump boasted that the blue lining at the bottom of the reflecting pool was \u201cso strong\u201d and \u201cso powerful\u201d that it would last 50 years and could not be cut with a knife.<\/p>\n<p>In response to Trump\u2019s post on Sunday, Eisen issued a statement saying that his team would continue to monitor the president\u2019s words and may even seek action against him if he continues to go after Hearn.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government is continuing to attack an innocent man. \u2026 We are reviewing all legal remedies, including for this continued harassment,\u201d Eisen said. \u201cIt is outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1396\">Trump Ballroom Deemed Unlawful by Federal Appeals Court<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The vandalism case against David Hearn was dropped in late July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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