Trump’s reflecting pool saga: a timeline of failure and finger-pointing

As charges are dropped against ex-Olympian, flawed work by Trump-connected contractor emerges as culprit

Donald Trump’s Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool saga appears to be winding down after prosecutors dropped vandalism charges against former Olympian David Hearn.

On Friday, Trump appointee and US attorney Jeanine Pirro and assistant US attorney Michael Spence petitioned a judge to dissolve the justice department’s case against Hearn, 67, who had been accused of pool sabotage, and instead blamed the “botched installation” of pool liner materials that caused it peel, and “less than fulsome information” offered by the Department of Interior.

But Trump’s attempts to renovate the pool, and the millions he has spent to do so, may endure in memory not only as a warning about the persistence of mother nature during Washington DC’s hot and muggy summer months, but also the perils of the president’s insistence on fast-tracked renovations in advance of a major celebration, in this case America’s 250th year since independence.

As the reflecting pool remains unfinished, and costs remain high, attorneys for Hearn have said the government “owes Mr Hearn an apology” and Pirro has come under fire.

“Its dismissal today does not erase the abuse of government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who did nothing wrong. The government’s approach was ready, fire, aim,” they said on social media.

Conservative commentator Scott Jennings agreed.

“The administration looks like a monkey having intimate relations with a football,” Jennings told CNN’s The Source on Friday.