Former Olympian arrested at Reflecting Pool denies vandalism claims
A former Olympian was arrested at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and says he only touched a loose liner, not vandalized it.
A former Olympian was arrested at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as the fight over Donald Trump’s blue resurfacing project spilled into a criminal case. David Hearn, a Bethesda resident and three-time Olympic canoeist, denied damaging the basin, saying he touched a detached liner but “didn’t destroy or break or peel anything.”
Authorities said the U.S. Park Police had arrested multiple people for allegedly vandalizing the landmark, and Hearn faces property destruction charges after reportedly removing paint from the Reflecting Pool. The allegations have intensified scrutiny of the pool’s condition after algae turned the water green and rips appeared in the resurfaced blue surface.
The White House publicly promoted the Reflecting Pool project in April and May 2026 as part of Trump’s visible effort to give the site an “American flag blue” look. The National Park Service says the pool is being closed for cleaning, repair of joints and installation of lining material, work it has described as part of a broader rehabilitation and historic-preservation process.
That process has already become a legal fight. The Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a federal lawsuit in May 2026 seeking to block the resurfacing, arguing that officials bypassed required procedures for changes to a historic property. The suit says the Reflecting Pool and the surrounding landscape are listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the National Mall Historic District.
The landmark’s history gives the dispute added weight. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has served as a powerful backdrop for American civic life, including the 1963 March on Washington and the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign and Resurrection City encampment, when people were photographed wading in the water. What began as a renovation has now become a test of preservation rules, federal authority and the boundaries of a highly symbolic national space.
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