Update: Trump Sticks to Vandalism Claim Despite New Evidence

President Donald Trump remains adamant that the peeling Reflecting Pool lining is the result of vandalism, despite U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s conclusion that it was a botched installation. In a Truth Social post today, Trump stated that he disagrees 100% with Pirro’s assessment and believes that the damage was caused by vandals, including an apparent marking of the number 8647 on the nearby National Mall.

However, no evidence has been presented that links the two incidents. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the number 8647 is an assassination threat. In contrast, Pirro has now stated that she will seek to dismiss the felony charge against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who was accused of ripping up a small square piece of new blue lining from the renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Contradicting claims made repeatedly by President Donald Trump, U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro now says she will seek to dismiss a felony charge against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn who had been accused of ripping up a small square piece of new blue lining from the renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

According to a motion filed by federal prosecutors, the damage to the pool was ‘the result of a botched installation and not vandalism.’ The new blue lining began peeling as the water turned green with algae bloom – the very problem the Trump-ordered restoration project was to have fixed.

Just last month following Hearn’s indictment on July 2, Pirro stated that prosecutors had ‘tremendous evidence’ of Hearn’s guilt and that he faced up to 10 years in prison. Hearn has consistently denied the accusations.

Yesterday, federal prosecutors blamed the contractors hired by the Interior Department on a no-bid contract for the mess, saying that the renovation itself had caused ‘widespread damage’ to the lining. Pirro now accuses the Interior Department of misleading prosecutors on key facts, including that the Department withheld evidence that the lining had begun to peel within two days of the project’s completion.

Pirro’s new stance on the matter marks a significant break from her usual lockstep siding with Trump. The former Fox News on-air personality said in her motion that contractor Atlantic Industrial Coatings rushed ‘to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration.’

‘Given all of this newly discovered information,’ Pirro writes, ‘it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism.’

Of the seven people that had been arrested on vandalism charges in connection to the pool, only Hearn was charged with felony destruction of property. A trial was supposed to have started September 28.

On Friday, lawyers representing Hearn said in a statement that the dismissal of charges ‘does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim. The administration owes Mr. Hearn an apology.’