A grand jury in Washington, D.C., has indicted former U.S. Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn on a felony charge for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19. He is facing a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted. Hearn, who denies the accusations, says he had noticed a partly detached piece of the Reflecting Pool’s blue liner and reached into the water to see what it felt like, when he was quickly arrested and subsequently held in jail for five hours. He is one of at least six people who have been arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Reflecting Pool, which has turned green due to algae blooms despite being painted “American-flag blue” at the behest of President Trump.
“We do think that Davey is being scapegoated for the failures of the White House with respect to the Reflecting Pool, that the blame is being shifted,” says Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. “He’s innocent, and we intend to vigorously defend the matter.”
Eisen speaks about some of the other 300 cases Democracy Defenders Fund is involved in, including legal fights against the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger and the Trump administration’s executive order that attempted to end birthright citizenship. He also comments on President Trump having made $2.2 billion last year, mostly fueled by cryptocurrency profits. “It’s corruption on a scale we’ve never seen in American history, and, frankly, seldom in world history,” says Eisen.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.