Justice Department IG refuses to investigate botched Reflecting Pool case after Trump’s false vandalism claims

The Justice Department’s inspector general is refusing to investigate what went wrong in the botched criminal case against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, including whether there was any criminality on the part of prosecutors, Hearn’s legal team said.

In a letter to Inspector General Don R. Berthiaume on Wednesday, Hearn’s lawyers asked his office to reconsider its decision due to evidence of “numerous potential criminal violations – possible crimes committed solely by DOJ personnel, as well as crimes committed jointly by DOJ employees and Department of the Interior personnel.”

The inspector general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hearn’s lawyers previously asked the watchdog to investigate the “incompetence and wrongdoing” of Justice Department employees, writing that “the rush to charge Mr. Hearn reflected the rushed renovation” of the Reflecting Pool itself.

Hearn was charged in July with criminal damage to President Donald Trump’s Reflecting Pool renovations.

Trump had blamed Hearn and other “vandals” for the damage to the pool. The office of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro decided to dismiss the case in late July, saying it found the damage was “the result of defective installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.”

A judge later threw out the case and barred the government from trying to charge Hearn again.

Hearn’s lawyers argue he should never have been charged in the first place. They allege that the evidence shows prosecutors rushed to bring the case even though they already had evidence showing that Hearn’s putting his hands in the pool caused “no harm or monetary loss” — necessary elements of the crime with which he was charged.

They also cited an incident during grand jury proceedings in which a government witness “testified – truthfully – that the repairs were necessary regardless of Mr. Hearn’s actions, that the witness did not know whether Mr. Hearn had damaged the reflecting pool liner in any way, and that he could not quantify any additional repair costs caused by Mr. Hearn’s actions.” »

“Obviously disappointed by the testimony and realizing that it was fatal to his case, the government appears to have caused the witness to change his testimony,” the letter states. “After a 21-minute break off the record, the witness returned to the stand and – after previously being unable to testify that Mr. Hearn had caused any monetary damage – the witness now testified that the damage was “definitely” $1,000 or more, the threshold necessary to bring a felony charge.

The letter also says the inspector general must investigate “whether prosecutors knowingly caused the witness to change his testimony on the issue of the magnitude of the loss and provide the false testimony the government needed to be able to charge a crime.”

He also asked the inspector general to review Pirro’s public comments on the matter, which he considers prejudicial.

“It is now beyond dispute – by everyone except President Trump – that Mr. Hearn should never have been arrested and certainly should not have been charged. The OIG must now investigate whether the DOJ personnel responsible for this travesty engaged in misconduct that violated Mr. Hearn’s civil rights,” the letter states.

Hearn’s lawyers first asked the inspector general to investigate the matter earlier this month. The new letter says the IG responded that it would not open an investigation and that the matter fell under the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which has the authority to investigate “certain categories of misconduct by DOJ attorneys.”

Hearn’s lawyers noted that the office has no criminal jurisdiction and was gutted by the Trump administration, with its staff cut in half.

“The fact is that OPR is no longer a fully functioning entity capable of conducting rigorous oversight. Recent reports have shown that the number of new OPR investigations is at a 20-year low, even as the number of complaints reaches unprecedented levels,” the letter said, adding that if the inspector general does not intervene, “the investigation simply will not occur.”

The letter states that the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General is investigating Hearn’s allegations regarding their staff.

Trump fired 18 inspectors general when he returned to office last year, including one from the Interior Department.

Inspectors general are generally considered independent figures within government agencies and are supposed to investigate allegations of waste, fraud and abuse of power within their departments.

The president said at the time of the layoffs, “I did it because it’s a very common thing,” although abrupt layoffs are very unusual.

“Some people thought some people were being unfair or not doing their job. That’s a very common thing,” Trump said.