The Trump administration’s prosecution of an Olympic canoeist accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is already falling apart.
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According to NBC News, a witness before the grand jury in the case against David “Davey” Hearn “testified that the area was already damaged and would have required repairs regardless,” citing what lawyers said in a court filing Monday.
This would cast serious doubt on the Trump-appointed prosecutors’ claim that Hearn, who has pleaded not guilty, was responsible for damage to the monument.
The Reflecting Pool renovation was meant to be one of President Donald Trump’s crowning beautification projects in Washington, D.C., where he has sought to leave his mark everywhere around the city from a massive White House ballroom to a “Victory Arch” situated just across the Potomac.
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Almost immediately after the renovations were complete, the pool was struck by a severe algae bloom that became a focal point for anti-Trump protesters, and the pool’s protective lining began to disintegrate as maintenance workers deployed hydrogen peroxide to try to control the algae.
As the damage became visible, the Trump administration blamed a supposed 350-foot “gash” in the pool, deliberately made by vandals. However, this story has increasingly come into doubt, as no such gash has been found when the pool was drained to inspect it.
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