President Donald Trump got a fresh humiliation on Thursday as a federal judge tossed the criminal case against David Hearn, the Olympic athlete charged with vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — dismissing the case with prejudice, so the administration cannot refile it again.
But one legal expert flagged a particular accusation from U.S. District Judge Todd Edelman that recontextualizes why Trump and his allies might have been so desperate to make the square peg fit into a round hole in this case.
“In cataloguing the risk of another ‘meritless, politically driven prosecution,’ the judge pointed out another reason Trump keeps trying to target David Hearn: He’s represented by @NormEisen, who just beat Trump again in court,” wrote Adam Klasfeld of All Rise News.
Eisen, a former White House ethics chief, has been an ongoing thorn in the side of the Trump administration for years, even advising House Democrats on the impeachment proceedings against the president in his first term.
Hearn became ensnared in a bizarre legal saga after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office charged him in July 2026 with felony destruction of government property, accusing him of “forcefully and violently” damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s newly installed lining.
The pool had just undergone a $14 million renovation ordered by Trump, but shortly after the new “American Flag Blue” sealant was installed, passersby noticed chunks peeling away from the bottom and an algae bloom turning the water green. Trump publicly blamed vandals for the damage, at one point claiming on Truth Social that slashes in the lining stretched “300 yards” and demanding that those responsible “pay a big price.” Hearn pleaded not guilty, maintaining he’d simply stopped at the pool during a 64-mile bike ride through Washington in July.
Ultimately, it emerged that the contractor who worked on the pool took responsibility for the damage.
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