National Park Service workers use skimmers to clean algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool following the completion of recent renovations in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 15, 2026. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
A three-time Olympic athlete was arrested for touching the detached paint of the renovated Reflecting Pool, according to the Washington Post.
Olympian David Hearn, who competed three times in the canoe slalom, stopped by the Reflecting Pool on Friday after a bike ride to see how it looks since Trump's $14 million renovations, the Post reported. The Reflecting Pool is currently plagued with murky green algae blooms, and paint is coming off after workers dumped hydrogen peroxide in it to combat the algae.
According to the Post, Hearn reached into the Reflecting Pool to feel a piece of partially detached paint from the bottom, and moments later, U.S. Park Police officers arrested him on the misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.
"I didn't vandalize anything," Hearn told the Post, adding that he just wanted to feel stripping paint. "I didn't destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs."
Trump has already accused "Radical Left Lunatics" and ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl of trying to destroy the pool as reporting on the peeling paint emerged, MS Now reported.
Hearn's arrest was recorded and posted on social media by conservative journalist Emily Miller. Three officers can be seen holding and handcuffing the 67-year-old Hearn.
Miller described the scene as "Man arrested for vandalizing Lincoln Reflecting Pool. He grabbed the hose that female National Park Service workers were using to clear the algae." Meanwhile, in the comments, people described him as a "leftist boomer," and an "a—."
"I didn't remove anything," Hearn reiterated to the Post. "I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece. It was still attached to the bottom."
Hearn is now due to appear in D.C. Superior Court on July 9, per the Post.
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