Jamie Raskin

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WASHINGTON — Democrats are going to take a close look at the Justice Department’s attempt to scapegoat an innocent man for the failure of President Donald Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday asked the Justice Department and the Department of the Interior for documents related to the prosecution of David Hearn, a 67-year-old former Olympic athlete.

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Prosecutors accused Hearn of “forcefully and violently” pulling and ripping the pool’s lining, and charged Hearn with a felony that could have put him in prison for a decade, only to drop the case and admit bad contracting, not vandalism, caused the pool’s problems.

“At a minimum, it appears that members of the Trump Administration were ready and willing to imprison an innocent American for a decade in a desperate effort to soothe an ex-landlord’s wounded ego about a terrible paint job and wasteful contract,” Raskin wrote in letters to Doug Burgum, head of the Department of Interior, and Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C.

Representatives for Pirro and Burgum did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Raskin’s letter is just a letter for now. But next year, if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives, the letter could be a subpoena, meaning the Trump administration would be legally required to hand over information. With Raskin likely heading the House Judiciary Committee, the Reflecting Pool prosecution case could be one of several angles in a possible impeachment inquiry against Trump.

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Trump announced in April plans to resurface the pool with an “industrial-grade swimming pool topping” in a color he called “American flag blue.” Almost as soon as the project was finished, algae turned the water bright green and visitors to the pool noticed scraps of the pool’s new coating flapping at the surface. The president blamed “vandals” for the damage, and last month Pirro pressed the case against Hearn.

In a remarkable motion to dismiss the case, Pirro revealed her office obtained documents showing she’d been misled by Burgum’s agency.

“These documents indicated a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout the Reflecting Pool,” Pirro said in the filing. “Had DOI been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment.”

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Trump has harshly criticized Pirro for dropping the case and could fire her. Pirro reportedly stood up for herself in an Oval Office meeting with Burgum and the president last week.

Raskin suggested another criminal case Pirro might pursue.

“Specifically, we have information that a Florida man living temporarily in Washington, D.C., may have illegally bulldozed and destroyed the East Wing of the White House, causing hundreds of millions of dollars of damage there,” Raskin wrote. “This suspect, who we emphasize is only a suspect at this point, had no congressional authorization for this unilateral destruction of precious federal property.”