WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorneys for David Hearn filed a motion in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday seeking to dismiss the case against him with prejudice. The filing accuses the Justice Department of bowing to political pressure from President Trump despite evidence that exonerates Hearn.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro moved to dismiss the indictment against Hearn on Friday. Her office moved to dismiss the case without prejudice, leaving open the possibility of future charges.

Jeanine Pirro stated in a filing that newly produced evidence from the Interior Department showed Hearn was not responsible for damage to the pool's lining. She attributed the damage to the Reflecting Pool to a botched installation by a contractor and a rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration.

Hearn's attorneys argued in their motion that the Justice Department knew or should have known for weeks that its case against Hearn was flawed. His legal team argued that evidence showed the pool liner was already failing and that Hearn did not cause the damage alleged in the indictment.

Attorney Steve Levin said, "By moving to dismiss, the U.S. Attorney’s Office did the right thing." He added, "But as our response makes clear, it did so the wrong way." Levin represents Hearn in the matter.

Hearn's team wrote in their filing, "Defying both decency and common sense, the government proceeded to indict Mr. Hearn before it had obtained or evaluated the information necessary to establish a good-faith basis for the charge." The attorneys stated in their filing that the Justice Department has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to seek or reinstate criminal charges to satisfy the President, irrespective of the law or facts.

The motion outlines specific procedural concerns regarding the initial investigation. A key witness who testified before the grand jury initially could not show that Hearn caused at least $1,000 in damage. The key witness was later recalled and claimed that the additional damage ascribed to Hearn would cost more than $1,000 to fix.

A grand jury indicted Hearn on a felony charge related to the Reflecting Pool incident. Hearn was arrested in June after allegedly touching material recently installed on the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Hearn said he was on a bike ride on June 19 when he reached in to examine the pool’s newly peeled coating and briefly touched a chunk attached to the side of the pool. He said he obeyed a park worker who told him to let go of the pool coating. Hearn is a former slalom canoeist who represented the United States at the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Summer Olympics.

Hearn's filing revealed that a National Park Service engineer told federal investigators that he had personally cut loose liner or coating with a knife to prevent peeling from worsening. His attorneys wrote that the government's own engineer determined it was better to cut off the peeling sections than to let them flap around.

Contractor Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded a $14.7 million no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool's concrete floor. Atlantic Industrial Coatings publicly acknowledged before Hearn was indicted that portions of the Reflecting Pool project required repair.

President Donald Trump met with Jeanine Pirro late Monday. Jeanine Pirro visited the White House on Monday evening bringing an evidence box. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that Jeanine Pirro "choked" and "folded like an umbrella" regarding the dismissal of charges against Hearn.

President Donald Trump said he remained disappointed by Jeanine Pirro's assessment that damage to the Reflecting Pool was the result of shoddy construction, not vandalism. He claimed that Jeanine Pirro has been facing a hostile judge. No judge had taken any substantive action in the case against Hearn at the time President Trump made his comments.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has backed President Trump's claims that vandals damaged the Reflecting Pool. Hearn's attorneys wrote that the sprint to charge Hearn mirrored the expedited timeline to complete the Pool renovations. They said Jeanine Pirro held an unprofessional and unethical press conference in which she wholly disregarded DC Bar and DOJ ethics rules by discussing the purported evidence, bolstering the credibility of potential witnesses, and wrongly opining on Hearn’s guilt.

Jeanine Pirro's office moved to dismiss misdemeanor cases against three other individuals in connection with incidents at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The case against Hearn is still active in D.C. Superior Court. A judge has not ruled on whether to permanently bar Jeanine Pirro’s office from bringing a new case against Hearn. A hearing in the case against Hearn that had been set for Thursday has been canceled.

Why It Matters

The defense motion seeks to dismiss the case with prejudice, aiming to permanently bar future charges, while the prosecution's dismissal without prejudice leaves Hearn vulnerable to re-indictment. This legal standoff shows allegations that the Justice Department pursued charges despite internal evidence attributing the damage to contractor errors and a rushed timeline. The outcome will determine whether the government can reinstate the felony accusation after acknowledging the pool liner was already failing.