Attorneys for Olympic canoeist David Hearn filed a motion Thursday asking a D.C. judge to permanently bar prosecutors from bringing new charges against him in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool case, arguing that President Trump's public pressure campaign amounts to “prosecutorial harassment.”
The motion, filed in D.C. Superior Court, urges Judge Todd Edelman to dismiss the case with prejudice, locking in the Department of Justice's July 31 decision to drop charges. Hearn's legal team contends that continued legal exposure is unwarranted and politically motivated.
The filing highlights a series of social media posts by Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that cast doubt on U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's finding that contractors working on the pool's multimillion-dollar renovation—not vandals—caused the damage. “Executive Branch officials have continued to advance the narrative – contrary to the evidence and the filings of record in this case – that Mr. Hearn vandalized the Reflecting Pool,” the motion states.
“Those public statements, together with reports that the Department of Justice is considering bringing new charges against Mr. Hearn, confirm that the risk of continued prosecutorial harassment is not speculative,” the motion adds. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Trump asked the DOJ to revisit the case, and the president has repeatedly criticized Pirro's handling of it.
Burgum wrote on Aug. 1 on X: “The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool.” On Aug. 7, Trump posted on Truth Social, calling for Pirro to “re-visit her hastily made decision” to drop the charges. The pressure has drawn scrutiny from Capitol Hill: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, launched probes Tuesday into both Pirro and Burgum over the initial felony vandalism charges.
“The public political pressure campaign being conducted through the Executive Branch in this case shows that the government cannot be trusted to properly exercise its prosecutorial discretion,” Hearn's lawyers wrote Thursday. The DOJ has since filed charges against another suspect in a separate incident—spray-painting the World War II Memorial with neon-orange graffiti—which Trump seized on Friday: “First the Reflecting Pool, now this. We are on their trail! Where do these animals come from?”
The case has become a flashpoint in the broader debate over prosecutorial independence. Legal experts note that while a dismissal with prejudice is rare, courts can grant it to prevent government overreach. The motion also references Trump's ongoing attacks on Pirro, framing them as an attempt to influence a live criminal matter. The outcome could set a precedent for how political pressure is weighed in future prosecutorial decisions.
Hearn's team argues that the evidence clearly exonerates him, pointing to contractor reports and maintenance records. They also note that the DOJ's own review found no criminal conduct. The motion asks the court to act now, before any new charges are filed, to prevent irreparable harm to Hearn's reputation and legal standing.
The judge has not yet set a hearing date. Meanwhile, the separate case involving the WWII Memorial graffiti—where a woman now faces felony charges—continues to draw attention, with some linking it to the Reflecting Pool saga. The DOJ has not commented on the motion, but sources suggest internal deliberations are ongoing. For now, Hearn's legal fate hangs on Judge Edelman's willingness to intervene in a politically charged case that shows no signs of cooling down.
