Federal prosecutors dropped the vandalism case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn on Friday, August 3, 2026, over damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool's new $14 million lining. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia filed a 20-page motion asking for the dismissal, which the judge granted. Prosecutors subsequently dropped their cases against three other individuals facing misdemeanor charges over the Reflecting Pool damage, according to NPR, which confirmed the developments through lawyers and court filings. The U.S. Attorney's Office wrote that newly released evidence from the Department of the Interior made it difficult to attribute the Reflecting Pool damage to vandalism beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors blamed the damage on a 'botched installation' by President Trump's hand-picked contractor rather than vandalism. The Department of Justice said it first became aware of information showing the Reflecting Pool damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism only after the vandalism case had been brought, according to NBC News. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro blamed the Department of the Interior for only recently releasing key evidence after the grand jury proceedings and following dozens of requests by her office. According to Pirro, Department of the Interior documents indicated the Reflecting Pool damage resulted from flawed installation by the contractor and a rush to complete the project before events tied to the America 250 celebration around Independence Day 2026. Pirro said factors including rain, wind and delays in obtaining the sealing product led to hasty and botched installation work that was not corrected before the Reflecting Pool was refilled in early June 2026. Within days of the Reflecting Pool being refilled in early June 2026, algae turned the water green. Hearn, a 67-year-old Maryland resident, was the only person indicted by a grand jury over damage to the Reflecting Pool. He pleaded not guilty to a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage, maintaining he simply touched a loose piece out of curiosity. Pirro had earlier echoed the vandalism allegations against Hearn before walking them back in her Friday court filing saying the damage resulted from a botched installation, according to the New York Times. The case presented a direct conflict between the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Department of the Interior over evidence production timing and quality. Pirro's office brought a grand jury indictment and pursued felony charges against at least one individual before obtaining what prosecutors now describe as the evidence showing the damage was caused by installation failures, not vandalism. The sequence raises questions about the evidentiary foundation presented to the grand jury and whether the Interior Department's disclosures during the proceedings were adequate. The fact pattern here, as the DOJ itself acknowledged, is that key exculpatory evidence surfaced only after charges were filed. The language from prosecutors that Interior released the evidence 'after the grand jury proceedings and following dozens of requests' suggests a prolonged dispute between the two federal entities over document production during an active criminal case. Pirro, who publicly echoed the vandalism narrative before reversing course in a 20-page court filing, shifted the blame squarely onto both the contractor and the Interior Department's evidence handling. The dismissal closes the criminal phase of the Reflecting Pool matter, but the friction between DOJ and Interior over accountability for the project's failures remains visible in the court record.