Trump admin was warned about peeling Reflecting Pool before it brought vandalism case

A U.S. National Park Service engineer warned the Trump administration about the floor of the Lincoln Reflecting Pool peeling in early June due to the renovation process and the materials used for the job, court filings revealed Wednesday.

Despite that warning, President Donald Trump accused multiple people of “destroying” the pool once it reopened to the public — and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., charged former Olympian canoeist David Hearn with destruction of property during a June 19 visit.

The Park Service engineer alerted the administration to the peeling issue in an email sent June 11, which the U.S. Attorney’s Office included in a court filing Wednesday. Prosecutors said that they were “not aware of or in possession of” documentation that the Interior Department had of installation problems at the time they charged Hearn.

The engineer noted that the “top layer of liner has peeled,” adding that it is “very thin and will not impact the strength of the liner.” The person explained in the email that the “contractor stated that the peeled area was ‘overspray’ from spraying the perimeter joint with polyurea,” according to the Justice Department. The engineer warned that that the issue could “lead to a 1’-2’ strip that is vulnerable to peeling.”

The engineer sent the message to Interior Department and Park Service personnel.

“These statements cast significant doubt that the defendant caused damage to the lining,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence said in the filing Wednesday, referring to the engineer’s warning and Hearn. “This information — that the piece of liner peeled by the defendant was overspray, of little or no value — was first furnished to the prosecutors weeks after the grand jury indicted the defendant.”

Spence argued that these “late provided documents showing blistering and peeling, as noted by the contractors, would sabotage the government’s ability to meet its burden of proof” in the Hearn case.

On July 31, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, led by Jeanine Pirro, dropped its case against Hearn, citing information it had obtained that undermined “the evidentiary basis for the indictment” against him. They said that information included documents from the Interior Department “indicating that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.”

Trump publicly lashed out at Pirro, saying that she made a “mistake” in withdrawing the charges and insisted that the Reflecting Pool had been vandalized.

To prevent the case against Hearn from being revived, his attorneys are seeking to permanently block any effort by the Justice Department of pursing a “politically motivated prosecution” of their client.

In the Wednesday filing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is asking a superior court judge to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning prosecutors would retain the ability to refile charges against Hearn.