Former Olympian David Hahn has been charged with allegedly damaging the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool. Prosecutors claim the act was intentional
Former Olympian David Hahn has been charged with damaging the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool, prosecutors announced.
An Olympic canoeist has been indicted by a grand jury on a felony charge of criminal damage to property for allegedly destroying the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial, which was recently renovated by President Donald Trump’s administration.
David Hahn was arrested by U.S. Park Police on June 19 and initially charged with misdemeanor destruction of government property, USA TODAY previously reported. In a July 2 indictment in Washington, D.C. Superior Court, Hahn is charged with “maliciously” destroying or destroying the bottom lining of a reflecting pool, causing more than $1,000 in damage.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., said at a press conference on July 2, “Today, we will be held accountable for the damage to our national resources, to our national treasures.” This crime carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Mr. Pirro accused Mr. Hearn of tearing out some of the sealant recently installed at the bottom of the reflecting pool. She said Hahn admitted to reaching into the pool, and a National Park Service employee witnessed Hahn removing the bottom liner with both hands.
When the employee told Hahn to stop, Pirro said, Hahn yelled at him for caring too much about the pool and asked why he cared if it wasn’t his pool.
After his arrest, Hahn’s lawyers denied the allegations and accused the Trump administration of treating an ordinary act as a crime in a statement. USA TODAY also reached out to Hahn for comment.
“This indictment reflects an effort by the administration to shift responsibility for its own failures. On the eve of our nation’s Independence Day, the American people should be deeply concerned about the abuse of government power against ordinary citizens based on a fabricated narrative,” lawyers, including former Ambassador Noam Eisen, founder of the Democracy Defense Fund, said in a statement.
After his arrest last month, Hahn told the Washington Post that he was able to reach into the reflecting pool and “grasp” the edge of the “material flapping around” in the water, but was unable to remove it.
“I didn’t destroy anything,” the 67-year-old told the outlet at the time. “I didn’t break anything, break anything, or strip anything. By the time I realized what was happening, I was handcuffed.”
Hahn’s arrest was one of several touted by President Trump last month, blaming “vandals” for destroying reflecting pools and causing catastrophic algae blooms and peeling paint. The charges were filed after a $14.7 million renovation.
National Park Service officials said in an affidavit in federal court last month that the pool was vandalized using “a sharp knife or razor.”
Frank Lands, the Park Service’s deputy director for operations, said in a sworn statement that the reflecting pool cruiser, which the Trump administration ordered to be redone ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary, was intentionally cut. Lands’ statement did not indicate how park officials determined that Reiner was mutilated using some type of knife.
Pirro was asked by a reporter on July 2 about other people similarly arrested in the Reflecting Pool incident and said his office has about six other cases, including potential misdemeanor and non-misdemeanor violations.
Although the Trump administration has blamed the problem on vandals, algae blooms in reflecting pools are nothing new.
Historical records show that algae has long been a recurring problem in pools. USA TODAY previously reported that the pool underwent a $34 million renovation in 2012, and about a week after it filled, the water turned into a “sea of disgusting algae.” At the end closest to the World War II Memorial, workers could be seen skimming the surface of the pool.
Algae blooms have plagued “every pool that has reopened since 1922,” according to a statement provided to USA TODAY by the Interior Department.
The pool is approximately 600 feet long and stretches from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument on the National Mall.
Hearn’s canoeing career spanned several decades from the 1970s to the 2000s, culminating in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and 2000 Sydney Olympics. His best result was a ninth-place finish at Atlanta. Outside of the Olympics, Hearn has won 13 medals, including eight gold and five silver.
Contributed by: Michael Loria, Michelle Del Rey, James Powel USA TODAY; Reuters
Drew Pittock covers trending news from around the country for USA TODAY. He can be reached at DPittock@usatodayco.com.
