Trump’s Reflecting Pool Vandal Story Collapses In Court

Source: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / GettyOn Monday (July 27), a court filing in the case against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has apparently thrown the government’s prosecution into question, thanks to a witness’s testimony that there was already damage. The grand jury witness, who hasn’t been identified, testified that the pool had already been damaged before David “Davey” Hearn touched a detached piece of the lining that was floating in the water. Hearn’s lawyers contend that the witness testimony “established that the pool had substantial preexisting damage requiring repair before any alleged conduct by Mr. Hearn.”The witness, who was apparently the only one specifically questioned about the damage, ventured that the cost to repair the damage already done to the pool would’ve been $6,000 to $15,000. Hearn was indicted on a single charge of destruction and accused of causing $1,000 worth of damage. Hearn said he had stopped by the side of the pool during a bike ride and touched the lining “to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen of what was happening with all the algae and the peeling blue coating.” He has been charged along with three other...