US President Donald Trump has criticised the Department of Justice after it dropped criminal charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who had been accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC.
According to The Guardian, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro dismissed the case on Friday after concluding that the damage was caused by “a botched installation and not vandalism”, reversing the prosecution’s earlier position.
Trump responded on Saturday in a post on Truth Social, saying he disagreed “100 percent” with the decision.
“To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM,” Trump wrote. “There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”
According to The Guardian, Hearn was arrested in June after prosecutors alleged he had caused more than $1,000 worth of damage by pulling at the pool’s liner.
Hearn denied the allegations, saying he had only touched loose material while cycling past the site.
In court filings, Pirro said new documents from the Department of the Interior showed “that the damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism” and blamed the problems on rushed construction work ahead of US Independence Day celebrations.
The case has drawn political attention after Trump repeatedly blamed the damage on vandals during the controversial renovation of the historic Reflecting Pool.
