Contractor Blamed for Pool Damage
DOJ drops Reflecting Pool 'vandalism' charges, citing contractor error for damage.
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The Department of Justice has dropped federal vandalism charges against former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn, admitting the $16.4 million Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation was ruined by a contractor's botched installation — not sabotage. USA Today Network reported that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro filed a 20-page motion conceding it is now "difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt."
President Trump publicly broke with his own appointed prosecutor, posting on Truth Social that he "disagrees 100%" with Pirro's decision and insisting the case was "a pure case of VANDALISM." Meanwhile, tourists visiting the National Mall found the pool still choked with green algae and ringed by chain-link fences.
How a $2 Million Makeover Became a $16 Million Disaster
Trump launched the pool project in April 2026, promising a cosmetic refresh in one to two weeks for roughly $1.5 million to $2 million. The goal was a vivid "American Flag Blue" look in time for the America 250 Fourth of July celebration. Instead, the Interior Department handed out no-bid contracts worth $16.4 million — $14.7 million to Atlantic Industrial Coatings for the lining, and $1.7 million to Green Water Solutions for a filtration system. Cincinnati.com reported that Green Water Solutions CEO John Cafaro is a prominent Trump donor and Mar-a-Lago neighbor.
Contractors sprayed an industrial rubber-like coating called Rhino Pipeliner 5000 directly onto the pool floor. Experts say polyurea must bond to perfectly dry concrete. The rush to finish before July 4th meant workers applied it in damp conditions. By May 18, contractors were already flagging bubbling, holes, and overspray defects. On June 11, an internal National Park Service email warned that the "top layer of liner has peeled." The pool had been open just five days.
Olympian Arrested for Touching a Loose Piece of Peeling Paint
On June 19, 67-year-old David Hearn stopped during a bike ride to look at the peeling liner. He briefly touched a loose piece. National Guard troops and U.S. Park Police detained him for five hours. Three other visitors — Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby, and Justin Carreno — were detained the next day for handling paint fragments floating on the surface. Fayetteville Observer noted that visitors at the time called the arrests "ridiculous."
Trump claimed at the time that vandals used box-cutters to slash a "250-to-350-foot gash" in the liner and dumped chemical fertilizer to grow the algae. On July 2, Pirro announced a grand jury felony indictment against Hearn, threatening up to 10 years in prison. A public defense fundraiser raised more than $175,000 for Hearn before charges were dropped on July 31. Charges against Thiers and Dennison-Gibby remain active, carrying up to 180 days in jail and $1,000 fines.
DOJ Admits Interior Department Withheld Key Documents
Pirro's dismissal filing revealed that the Interior Department had withheld internal records from prosecutors until after Hearn was already indicted. Those documents showed the contractor flagged installation problems days after the work was done. Pirro blamed the DOI for providing "less than fulsome information at the outset." Hearn's legal team, led by attorney Norm Eisen, said the government owed his client an apology: "The Trump administration's case against Davey Hearn should have never been brought."
Aquatic systems expert Steve Goodale told PolitiFact he had "a hard time imagining a tool that could cause more than superficial damage" to a properly installed polyurea liner. The real culprit, experts said, was water seeping under a faulty seal, lifting the blue coating in large sheets. A congressional investigation led by Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative Robert Garcia is now demanding full contract records, calling the project a "massive waste of working families' hard-earned tax dollars."
Pool Still Broken, Same Contractor Hired to Fix It
Tourists arriving at the National Mall found the Reflecting Pool still green with algae and blocked by fencing. Toye Allen, visiting from Pennsylvania, told reporters: "We paid all this money as taxpayers in order to get this fixed and it's still not fixed, and it's disappointing." The Interior Department plans additional repairs after the Fourth of July peak season. North Jersey reported the pool will need to be fully drained for a second round of permanent work.
Despite the contractor's documented failures, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the government will continue using Atlantic Industrial Coatings to fix the damage, calling the company's original work "fantastic." The project cost has ballooned more than eight times over the original estimate. The 2,000-foot-long pool, built in 1922, last received a full renovation in 2012 — a $34 million job done through standard competitive bidding.
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