U.S. Park Police arrested a 67-year-old former three-time Olympian at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property, one of at least a dozen detentions over a single weekend at the recently refurbished national landmark, Fox News Digital reported.
David Hearn, a canoeist and cyclist who represented the United States in three Olympic Games, was handcuffed Friday after what he described as an innocent encounter with a loose piece of pool liner. President Trump responded Saturday with a pair of Truth Social posts calling the damage "a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln" and warning that the pool may need to be drained for repairs.
The confrontation, captured on a two-minute video posted to X by journalist Emily Miller, unfolded against a backdrop of escalating vandalism at the National Mall. Grass near the White House was defaced with the threatening "86 47" message in a separate incident, and the $14.8 million Reflecting Pool restoration, completed just weeks ago, has already shown signs of peeling paint and algae growth.
Miller's video shows a man in lime green racing gear questioning a National Guardsman before U.S. Park Police move in and place him in handcuffs. Miller claimed in her post that Hearn "grabbed" a hose National Park Service workers were using to remediate algae growth in the basin.
Hearn told The Washington Post a different story. He said he had just finished a 52-mile bike ride when he noticed a "partially detached piece" of the new pool liner and "reached into the water to see what it felt like." He insisted the hose "may" only have been touched by his bike tire.
"I didn't vandalize anything. I didn't destroy, break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already being handcuffed."
The Associated Press identified Hearn as the owner of a company that manufactured composite material used to build watercraft. Breitbart reported that Hearn spent nearly five hours in custody after his arrest.
This was not Hearn's first brush with federal authorities on the National Mall. In 1996, he was arrested on charges of canoeing on the Potomac River. Those charges were later dropped.
Trump addressed the situation twice on Truth Social Saturday. His earlier post framed the damage in stark terms:
"Who would do such a thing? These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair."
His longer Saturday night statement alleged that suspects "took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete." He also alleged that individuals "poured corrosive and destructive chemicals" into the basin. Neither claim has been independently corroborated in available reporting.
Trump announced that administration officials met with contractors Saturday and said the pool would likely need to be at least partially drained. The Washington Times reported that Hearn faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on the destruction charge, and his case is set for D.C. Superior Court on July 9.
The president also took aim at ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl. The Washington Examiner reported that Trump accused Karl of "sticking his hand into the Pool, and trying to rip the rubber off of the surface", a claim Karl has not publicly addressed in the materials available.
The Reflecting Pool restoration cost $14.8 million and was ordered by Trump. Within weeks of completion, the new lining showed signs of peeling, and green algae began accumulating on the basin floor. National Park Service employees and contractors were on-site using vacuums and hoses to address the algae when the weekend's confrontations began.
Trump framed the restoration as a historic achievement. "It hasn't looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built," he wrote, adding that the pool had achieved "the mirror like finish, perfectly reflecting the two Great Monuments, which it never had before."
Whether the peeling and algae are related to the alleged vandalism or are separate maintenance issues remains unclear. Fox News Digital noted that requests for comment to the White House, U.S. Park Police, and Miller were not immediately returned.
The vandalism at the Reflecting Pool is part of a broader pattern of politically charged incidents targeting federal property in Washington. The "86 47" markings carved into the National Mall grass, a phrase linked to former FBI Director James Comey, who was separately indicted, have drawn their own legal battles, including a federal court ruling on whether the phrase constitutes protected speech.
Miller reported that seven people were detained Friday and five more on Saturday in separate incidents at the Reflecting Pool. Trump's Saturday night post referenced "many additional people" being arrested, though the specific charges against individuals other than Hearn have not been disclosed.
A "major security surge" has been implemented at the site. National Guard members were already present when Hearn was arrested Friday, and the stepped-up enforcement posture appears designed to deter further interference with the restoration work.
Newsmax reported that Trump accused "Radical Left Lunatics" of damaging the pool and vowed that repairs and algae mitigation would continue. The New York Post added that the "86 47" etchings on the National Mall grass were part of the same wave of defacement that prompted the president's response.
The broader climate of politically motivated threats extends well beyond property damage. In recent months, even Supreme Court justices have been targeted, a swatting hoax was directed at Justice Amy Coney Barrett's Virginia home, underscoring how routine such provocations have become.
Several questions hang over the case. Trump's specific claims, a 250-foot gash made by a knife or blade, corrosive chemicals poured into the water, have not been verified by law enforcement or independent sources. The evidentiary basis for those allegations is unknown.
Hearn's account and Miller's account diverge on a basic point: whether he deliberately grabbed NPS equipment or merely brushed it with his bicycle tire. That factual dispute will presumably be tested when his case reaches D.C. Superior Court on July 9.
The condition of the pool liner itself, peeling and floating weeks after a nearly $15 million renovation, raises its own questions about workmanship and materials, separate from any deliberate sabotage. Those questions deserve answers, too.
And the legal landscape around the broader "86 47" controversy continues to shift. A federal judge recently ordered the National Park Service to allow an "86 47" flag near the National Mall, drawing a sharp line between protected speech and the physical destruction of federal property that Trump is now prosecuting.
Taxpayers spent $14.8 million to restore a monument that has stood since 1922. If people are vandalizing it for political sport, the law should land on them hard. And if the renovation itself is failing weeks after completion, someone owes the public an explanation for that, too.