President Donald Trump criticized U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Saturday for dismissing a vandalism case linked to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.
Former Olympian David Hearn had been accused of tearing up the pool’s liner amid the Trump administration’s efforts to revitalize the nation’s capital, the Hill reported. Hearn was indicted but pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of destruction of property.
“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM, that included the grass, which had a big 86 47 emblazoned in giant letters on it, and other elements of the surrounding area. There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS! President DJT,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Hearn was initially accused of tampering with material inside the pool but claimed he was merely examining a section of liner that was already detached, according to Breitbart News.
“The Justice Department moved to drop the case on Friday, finding that the damage to the tidal basin resulted from a ‘rushed and botched installation,’ not alleged vandalism,” the Hill article read:
Pirro’s office noted in its filing that the pool’s issues were a result of over spraying and delamination.
“Specifically, the newly released documents reveal that work on installing the lining almost immediately fell behind, due to a combination of very rainy and windy weather, repeated failures of testing on the sealing of the expansion joints, and delays in obtaining sealing product at the worksite,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
Hearn had been facing up to 10 years in prison in the case, Breitbart News reported Saturday.
“Hearn is not the only one having charges dismissed… Justin Carreno (47) had been charged with misdemeanor destruction of property. His case was also dismissed Friday. Sophie Dennison-Gibby (49) and Cameron Thiers (26) still have their misdemeanor cases pending,” the outlet said.
Per the Hill article, “Prosecutors on Friday noted that the section Hearn was accused of tampering with was not in the area where the vandalism likely occurred. It was also reported that a National Park Service engineer raised concerns about peeling days before the ex-Olympian was arrested.”
However, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum on Saturday also commented on the case.
“The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool. Some of these acts were even caught on camera. We also provided the U.S. Attorney’s office expert and eyewitness testimony to the damage done by vandals and provided every piece of evidence they asked for in the requested time line detailing each area of damage at the pool,” he wrote.
“We won’t back down to deranged people who want to destroy, deface, or degrade our monuments,” Burgum added:
Leftists have criticized Trump’s efforts to clean up and revitalize the reflecting pool, while others praised the changes being made, according to Breitbart News.
Read the full article here