We took a little break from reporting on the utter disaster that is Trump’s renovations destroying the DC Reflecting Pool to focus on Trump’s Great American State Fair July 4 half assery. Here’s where we left off with Pool news: algae is blooming so fiercely we can’t see the new “American Flag Blue” paint, so they dumped in heaps of hydrogen peroxide that may or may not have caused the paint/sealant to peel back from the surface and may or may not be the cause of multiple duck fatalities. No one in the administration wants to admit these failures are because of the rushed timeline Trump demanded so he’s instead blaming everything on VANDALS!
And speaking of… On June 19, former Olympic canoeist David Hearn found himself at the Reflecting Pool after a bike ride and, as a “curious citizen,” took a moment to touch a piece of the peeling paint. He did not cause the tear, he did not pull on or exacerbate it in any way. Yet Trump’s goons swooped in and arrested Hearn for destruction of government property they allege amounted to $1,000 in damages. His arraignment in DC Superior Court happened yesterday where Hearn pleaded not guilty:
According to the Interior Department, Hearn is one of at least seven people who were arrested in incidents at the Reflecting Pool, which President Trump alleged was vandalized following a $16 million renovation.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said National Park Service employees saw Hearn “forcefully pulling up and removing the bottom liner” of the pool with both hands on June 19.
Hearn previously told the Associated Press that he was detained by Park Police and National Guard troops for five hours after touching a piece of the peeling liner.
He said he had stopped by the pool during a 64-mile bike ride, reached in and touched a chunk of the liner still attached to the side, but did not remove it.
“I’m a curious citizen,” Hearn said. “I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.”
Hearn could face 10 years in prison if he is convicted. In a statement, Hearn’s lawyers said that the indictment “reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures.”
“These charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American,” Hearn’s lawyers said.
Interior Secreatry Doug Burgum said this week that workers had begun draining the Reflecting Pool for the second time in three months in an attempt to fix its liner.
And despite ballooning costs, Trump will not seek new bids to repair it, Burgum said, repeating the president’s claims that vandals, not the contractor, were to blame for problems plaguing the $16 million clean-up project.
“We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” Burgum said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “Thankfully, the vandalism was small. It was bad … but the job that was done to fix the Reflecting Pool was done extremely well.”
Trump had previously alleged that a 350-foot gash was cut through the pool’s lining by someone using a “box-cutter or a knife of some kind.” He told reporters that the administration has pictures of the alleged gash, which will be released in court.
Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Burgum said there were “multiple gashes that add up to 350 feet,” and that “less than one-tenth of one percent” of the industrial liner had been damaged while “99.99% of the pool bottom is perfect.”
Hearn’s lawyer is right in everything he said — that the charges are about Trump shifting blame and that we all should be alarmed by a government that acts this way. I certainly am. The idea that Hearn could go to prison for 10 years for touching something in a pool is as disturbing to me as the idea of a 64-mile bike ride is to Trump. Hearn’s next court appearance is scheduled for August 5, and I dearly hope it gets dismissed, ideally with a public rebuke from the judge to the government for a gross lack of evidence. Meanwhile, local DC animal rescue group City Wildlife has deployed a Duck Watch team after the death toll rose to three. The group confirmed that necropsies would be performed to determine the exact manner of deaths, and issued a statement on behalf of the bereaved: “We appreciate everyone’s concern for the duck family and other ducks currently visiting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as it undergoes continued repairs.” May their memories be a duckling blessing.
His lawyer is absolutely right, co-opting the judicial system to suit his narrative like this is horrifying.
This is just horrifying.