As Team Trump repeatedly drains the Reflecting Pool, evidence washes away, meaning vandalism charge against U.S. Olympian likely will sink in courtroom

(FOX 13 News, Facebook)

The Trump administration's destruction of government property case against a former U.S. Olympian, all  because he apparently touched water in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, appears to be on life support. And that is a good thing because the case never should have been given life to begin with. 

Norm Eisen, attorney for former U.S. canoeist David "Davy" Hearn, was interviewed after his client's recent arraignment (where Hearn pleaded not guilty) and said, "Every American is at risk, and every American should be alarmed by this prosecution. Mr. Hearn is innocent."

To drive that point home, Eisen correctly added, "It's not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool, to touch water in the United States of America. This is a case that never should have been brought."

A crowd had gathered for the court proceeding, and when Eisen finished speaking, chants of "Davey! Davey" could be heard around the courthouse.

With that, we learned that both the law and public sentiment are on Hearn's side. He also has the advantage of going up against a Trump team that appears to be so incompetent that it would struggle to boil an egg. We learn more about that from an article at The New Republic (TNR) under the headline "DOJ's Reflecting Pool 'vandalism' case falls apart with pool draining; the Justice Department's entire case against U.S. Olympian David Hearn is on the brink of collapse." Hafiz Rashid writes: 

The Trump administration’s case against the former Olympic canoeist accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is about to fall apart.

Following the draining of the Reflecting Pool last week, David Hearn filed a motion to dismiss the federal indictment against him. In his motion, Hearn argued that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia failed to preserve the physical evidence against him: the lining of the pool that he is accused of damaging.

Hearn’s attorneys said in their motion that they had made a written request for federal prosecutors to preserve the evidence, but the pool has repeatedly been drained more than once since his arrest, and large sections of the liner are missing.

It sounds like government lawyers have not been paying attention to documents filed in the case. It's also possible that, like a frighteningly high number of Trumpers, they simply aren't very smart. In their defense, it probably was not their choice to bring this case. That decision apparently rests with Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and her desire to score points with Trump seems to have overridden any good judgment that she, as a former Fox News host, might have had. Rashid writes:

The case against Hearn has always been weak, considering that other people have noticed sections of the pool’s paint and lining, applied on President Trump’s orders, coming apart and peeling. Hearn is accused of “forcefully and violently” tearing two square feet of the pool’s newly added blue paint, and he maintains that he merely touched an already peeling piece of paint.

Trump has blamed vandalism for the sorry state of the pool, when in reality the addition of hydrogen peroxide to the water in a futile attempt to kill algae probably led to the paint and liner peeling away. The judge in the case, D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean, rebuffed the government’s attempt to bar Hearn from the pool earlier this month, in effect recognizing the case’s weakness.

Meanwhile, the White House has enlisted the FBI to bolster the case, but considering that the pool has been repeatedly drained, they’re not likely to come up with any new evidence, wasting even more tax dollars. Over $14 million has already been spent on the Reflecting Pool, and that number can only be growing as it seems to get worse every day.