Trump denounces Justice Department decision to drop Reflecting Pool charges

What the report says

US President Donald Trump has criticized a Justice Department decision to drop criminal charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn in connection with damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC. The case, which had drawn attention because of the pool’s prominent location near the National Mall, was dismissed after US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said newly reviewed Interior Department documents showed the damage came from a flawed contractor installation rather than vandalism.

According to Al Jazeera’s report, Pirro announced the change on Friday, then Trump publicly rejected it on Saturday, saying he disagreed “100 percent” with the explanation and still viewed the incident as vandalism. Hearn, 67, had been arrested on June 19 and was one of several people accused in connection with the Reflecting Pool case. Prosecutors had previously alleged the damage exceeded the federal threshold for charges.

The episode has become part of a wider dispute over Trump’s efforts to remake parts of Washington, DC, including work on the Reflecting Pool itself. Al Jazeera reported that the renovation used a contractor tied to Trump and that the project later showed problems such as peeling lining and algae growth. The shift in the government’s position matters because it raises questions about how the damage was caused, how the investigation was handled, and whether the case was driven more by politics than by evidence.