(C) BoingBoing
This story was originally published by BoingBoing and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



DOJ admits the Reflecting Pool "vandal" was the contractor [1]

['Jason Weisberger']

Date: 2026-07-31  

The Trump administration arrested a former Olympian, David Hearn, for touching a loose piece of its janky Reflecting Pool liner, indicted him for felony vandalism, and then announced it had "tremendous evidence" of his wrongdoing. The evidence shows something else: the contractor botched the installation, the DOJ lied.

DOJ has asked a D.C. judge to dismiss the felony indictment against the three-time Olympic canoeist, who said he briefly touched an already detached section of liner during a bike ride. The government now says documents supplied after his indictment show that the liner failed due to flawed installation by Atlantic Industrial Coatings and a rush to finish before America's 250th-anniversary events.

Trump repeatedly blamed vandals for the liner peeling from his "American flag blue" Reflecting Pool. Independent experts had already noted that the failures followed installation seams and were consistent with application problems. The administration insisted there had been no installation mistakes and prosecuted Hearn after he touched one of the loose pieces.

The Justice Department now says the critics were right. The liner was poorly installed, the project was rushed, and Interior did not disclose the relevant documents until after an ordinary citizen had been arrested and indicted.

"Tremendous evidence" lasted until evidence arrived.

Previously:

• New blue paint under Reflecting Pool already peeling

• Ignoring tire tracks, NPS hunts mystery Reflecting Pool vandal

• Grandpa Pudding Brains is hunting for vandals in his $14.7 million algae farm

• Grandpa Pudding Brains pours peroxide into the Lincoln Memorial Algae Farm

• Grandpa Pudding Brains unveils 'our pool is bigger than skyscrapers' chart

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2026/07/31/doj-reflecting-pool-contractor-david-hearn.html

Published and (C) by BoingBoing
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/boingboing/