Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn entered a not guilty plea Thursday in D.C. Superior Court on charges related to alleged damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the historic pool.
Hearn has maintained since the incident that he simply touched the water out of curiosity, a claim his legal team repeated during a press conference outside the courthouse.
Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance following the arraignment, with his next hearing scheduled for Aug. 5.
Attorney Norm Eisen, who represents Hearn, addressed reporters after the hearing and accused the Trump administration of using his client as a political diversion.
Eisen argued the charges were designed to shift blame for a costly renovation project that has been widely condemned as a failure.
“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” Eisen told reporters gathered outside the court.
The Trump administration had recently completed a $14 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool before the alleged incident occurred.
Shortly after the renovation was finished, peeling paint and algae were found in the water, drawing widespread criticism of the project as a waste of taxpayer funds.
Federal prosecutors have stated that a substantial body of evidence has been gathered against Hearn, though specific details were not disclosed following Thursday’s arraignment.
The case has drawn significant public attention, with protesters and reporters gathering outside D.C. Superior Court as Hearn walked out alongside his legal team.
The broader controversy surrounding the reflecting pool renovation continues to raise questions about the expenditure of public funds on a project many observers have called deeply mismanaged.
