The National Park Service first had inklings there were problems with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool overhaul in May, weeks before President Donald Trump decried that vandals had destroyed the recently installed liner and federal prosecutors indicted several people on criminal charges, according to a court filing released Friday.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro last week dropped her office’s case against David Hearn, a former Olympian who prosecutors had accused of felony vandalism for “violently” damaging the pool after its more than $16 million renovation by the Trump administration.
In its bombshell retreat, prosecutors placed the blame for their case falling apart both on the Interior Department and U.S. Park Police, who they said slow-walked providing the U.S. attorney’s office with evidence that the pool’s liner had faced extensive damages predating Hearn’s arrest. Instead, it was most likely installed poorly ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, the filing said.
“Had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment,” the filing states.
