Federal authorities arrested a former three-time Olympian after he reached into the algae-filled Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to see what it felt like.
David Hearn, 67, became a talking point on Friday among conservatives who claim the algae bloom in the Reflecting Pool—worsened after President Donald Trump’s attempt to turn it “American blue”—is the result of secret sabotage by political opponents.
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told The Washington Post after he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.
His arrest was filmed by Emily Miller, a conservative journalist, who claimed on X that he had “grabbed the hose that female National Park Service workers were using to clear the algae.”
However, in Hearn’s account, he said he was on a 52-mile bike ride when he stopped to view the refurbished Reflecting Pool and, upon noticing a piece of “American flag blue” liner detached from the bottom, reached in to see what it felt like.
“I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs,” he told The Post.
Hearn, who was detained for around five hours before he was released, is scheduled to appear in D.C. Superior Court on July 9. His arrest coincided with increased public scrutiny of the newly renovated site, which Trump had spent months hyping only for the pool to almost immediately be plagued by fresh problems, like excessive algae and peeling paint. MAGA figures have pushed bizarre claims of a nefarious plot by “leftists” to damage the reflecting pool in order to make Trump look bad.
Trump himself has amplified those claims, declaring on social media that the issues with the pool were caused by “vandalism.” And right on cue, the U.S. Park Police and National Guard have reportedly begun patrolling the area to thwart any would-be vandals.
In his post, Trump, 80, also blamed ABC reporter Jonathan Karl for ruining his $14 million vanity project after a video of the correspondent inspecting the pool circulated on social media.
“Lightweight ABC reporter Jonathan Karl was seen sticking his hand into the pool and trying to rip the rubber off the surface,” Trump wrote.
Yet Hearn and Karl were not the only visitors interested in the peeling paint; according to HuffPost, visitors to the National Mall have reportedly been taking home large sheets of the peeled-off blue coating as souvenirs.
A Washington Post analysis found that the Reflecting Pool contains more algae than at any point recorded in June over the past five years. Federal workers have spent days vacuuming algae from the 6.5-million-gallon pool and treating the water with hydrogen peroxide, which has, in turn, created another problem: social media users have expressed concern that ducks and ducklings may be harmed by the algae-killing solution.
