{"id":4165,"date":"2026-08-19T18:07:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4165"},"modified":"2026-08-19T18:07:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T18:07:18","slug":"trump-administration-was-warned-about-peeling-reflecting-pool-nearly-a-month-before-it-brought-vandalism-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4165","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration was warned about peeling Reflecting Pool nearly a month before it brought vandalism case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A U.S. National Park Service engineer warned the Trump administration about the floor of the Lincoln Reflecting Pool peeling in early June due to the renovation process and the materials used for the job, court filings revealed Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Read more Trump says he will meet with Kim Jong Un this year<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite that warning, President Donald Trump accused multiple people of \u201cdestroying\u201d the pool once it reopened to the public \u2014 and the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in Washington, D.C., charged former Olympian canoeist David Hearn with destruction of property during a June 19 visit. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

The Park Service engineer alerted the administration to the peeling issue in an email sent June 11, which the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office included in a court filing Wednesday. Prosecutors said that they were \u201cnot aware of or in possession of\u201d documentation that the Interior Department had of installation problems at the time they charged Hearn. <\/p>\n

The engineer noted that the \u201ctop layer of liner has peeled,\u201d adding that it is \u201cvery thin and will not impact the strength of the liner.\u201d The person explained in the email that the \u201ccontractor stated that the peeled area was \u2018overspray\u2019 from spraying the perimeter joint with polyurea,\u201d according to the Justice Department. The engineer warned that that the issue could \u201clead to a 1\u2019-2\u2019 strip that is vulnerable to peeling.\u201d <\/p>\n

The engineer sent the message to Interior Department and Park Service personnel. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese statements cast significant doubt that the defendant caused damage to the lining,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence said in the filing Wednesday, referring to the engineer\u2019s warning and Hearn. \u201cThis information \u2014 that the piece of liner peeled by the defendant was overspray, of little or no value \u2014\u00a0was first furnished to the prosecutors weeks after the grand jury indicted the defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Spence argued that these \u201clate provided documents showing blistering and peeling, as noted by the contractors, would sabotage the government\u2019s ability to meet its burden of proof\u201d in the Hearn case. <\/p>\n

Read more A rival\u2019s bombshell and a new corruption probe heap untimely pressure on Ukraine\u2019s Zelenskyy<\/a><\/p>\n

On July 31, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, led by Jeanine Pirro, dropped its case against Hearn, citing information it had obtained that undermined \u201cthe evidentiary basis for the indictment\u201d against him. They said that information included documents from the Interior Department \u201cindicating that damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in June 2026 was the result of flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump publicly lashed out at Pirro, saying that she made a \u201cmistake\u201d in withdrawing the charges and insisted that the Reflecting Pool had been vandalized. <\/p>\n

To prevent the case against Hearn from being revived, his attorneys are seeking to permanently block any effort by the Justice Department of pursing a \u201cpolitically motivated prosecution\u201d of their client.<\/p>\n

In the Wednesday filing, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office is asking a superior court judge to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning prosecutors would retain the ability to refile charges against Hearn. <\/p>\n

Read more 4 Americans killed in helicopter crash in Kenya<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A U.S. National Park Service engineer warned the Trump administration that the Lincoln Reflecting Pool peeling in early June due to the renovation issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-justice-department"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump administration was warned about peeling Reflecting Pool nearly a month before it brought vandalism case - Trusted Moving Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=4165\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump administration was warned about peeling Reflecting Pool nearly a month before it brought vandalism case - 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