House Democrats are investigating the Trump administration’s handling of the prosecution of a former Olympic canoeist who was accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool before prosecutors acknowledged that the damage was caused by a botched renovation.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is demanding communications from US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum concerning the prosecution of three-time Olympian David Hearn.
Hearn, 67, had been charged with malicious destruction of property over damage to the Reflecting Pool’s newly installed lining.
The felony charge carried a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Federal prosecutors ultimately moved to dismiss the case late last month, citing a lack of evidence and newly released Interior Department documents that provided additional information about what caused the damage.
Those documents indicated that the damaged lining was the result of a “hasty” and “botched” installation undertaken as officials sought to complete the project ahead of the Trump administration’s July 4 deadline, according to court filings.
The finding represented a significant shift from the government’s earlier position.
Pirro had previously maintained that prosecutors possessed “tremendous evidence” that Hearn intentionally vandalized the Reflecting Pool and caused more than $1,000 in damage.
The charges were later dropped after prosecutors said the evidence did not support continuing the case.
Raskin is now seeking information about what officials at the Justice and Interior departments knew about the damaged lining before Hearn was charged.
“Did the United States Attorney’s Office for DC in fact maliciously prosecute an American citizen it knew to be innocent with a felony charge carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison?” Raskin asked in a letter to Pirro and Burgum.
Raskin also questioned whether the Interior Department deliberately provided misleading information to prosecutors to conceal problems with the renovation.
“Did the U.S. Department of the Interior … deliberately mislead prosecutors to cover up a ‘botched’ renovation by a company awarded a dubious $15 million insider no-bid contract?” Raskin asked.
Those allegations have not been established, and the inquiry is seeking records to determine what occurred.
Raskin also raised questions about the timeline surrounding the administration’s knowledge of problems with the pool lining.
According to the report, court documents indicate that DOJ had apparently been made aware that the newly installed lining was peeling more than a week before Hearn’s arrest.
Prosecutors later said Interior Department officials did not provide relevant evidence concerning the problem until after Hearn had already been indicted.
Democrats are seeking communications and other records to determine whether prosecutors knowingly proceeded against Hearn despite evidence suggesting that he was not responsible for the damage, according to the Daily Mail.
They are also examining whether President Donald Trump pressured Burgum to retaliate against Hearn, according to the report.
Raskin sharply criticized the administration’s handling of the case while announcing the inquiry.
“At a minimum, it appears that members of the Trump Administration were ready and willing to imprison an innocent American for a decade in a desperate effort to soothe an ex-landlord’s wounded ego about a terrible paint job and wasteful contract,” Raskin said.
“We must get to the bottom of these murky waters to rid our justice system of any and all residual contamination,” he added.
Hearn represented the US in canoeing at three Olympic Games.
His prosecution stemmed from allegations that he deliberately damaged the Reflecting Pool lining following its renovation.
