DOJ watchdog won't probe Reflecting Pool case personnel, lawyers say
Aysha BagchiA Justice Department internal watchdog has said it won't investigate the department's handling of the collapsed felony case that charged former Olympian David Hearn with vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool, according to Hearn's lawyers.
DOJ Inspector General Don R. Berthiaume said earlier this month that he doesn't have the power to investigate their allegations of misconduct by DOJ personnel, according to an Oct. 21 letter from Hearn's lawyers to Berthiaume. Berthiaume told them that a different body, the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility, is the watchdog that is actually responsible for this type of investigation, they said.
That claim is "insupportable," according to Hearn's lawyers, because the inspector general's office has the power to investigate potential crimes committed by DOJ personnel, and the lawyers have alleged a range of potential criminal conduct.
"The allegations in our October 6 Letter point to facts that warrant an investigation into numerous potential crimes, including witness tampering, subornation of perjury, obstruction of justice, and criminal civil rights violations," the lawyers alleged.
The Justice Department didn't immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on Berthiaume's position when it comes to investigating the DOJ's handling of the case, and for comment on Hearn's wider allegations.
"The reckless prosecution of Mr. Hearn was an utter failure by the government that set a dangerous precedent, and there is no excuse for OIG to not look into it," Norm Eisen, a lawyer for Hearn, who competed as a canoeist in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics, said in a statement shared with USA TODAY.
"The American people deserve answers and accountability to make sure this doesn’t happen to another innocent person," Eisen added.
What happened in Hearn's case?
On June 22, President Donald Trump told reporters that vandals had damaged the pool, including by making a 350-foot slit running from one end to the other, after he had it renovated ahead of his summer "America 250" celebration.
Less than two weeks later, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced with great fanfare that her office had secured a felony indictment charging Hearn with ripping a piece of recently installed sealant and causing more than $1,000 in damage.
However, Pirro later dropped the case, saying her office based the indictment on "less than fulsome information" from the Department of the Interior. That department later provided evidence, she said, suggesting that the damage was caused by a flawed installation process as workers rushed to complete the renovations.
Trump publicly decried that decision, telling reporters that Pirro "choked" and "folded like an umbrella."
A judge later permanently blocked the DOJ from re-charging Hearn in the case, noting Trump's public statements and writing that the DOJ has shown a "willingness to seek or reinstate criminal charges to satisfy the President, irrespective of the law or facts."
What do Hearn's lawyers allege?
Hearn's lawyers said in their Oct. 6 letter to Berthiaume that Hearn was deprived of his liberty, indicted for a crime he didn't commit, threatened with up to 10 years of prison, and defamed by high-ranking government officials. They want Berthiaume's office to investigate the circumstances surrounding Hearn's arrest and detention, the felony indictment brought against him and Pirro's ultimate move to drop the charges.
Leaving the DOJ's professional responsibility office to investigate what happened in Hearn's case is a recipe for no DOJ investigation at all, according to Hearn's lawyers. The professional responsibility office "is no longer a fully functioning entity capable of conducting rigorous oversight," they said in their Oct. 21 letter.
Hearn's lawyers cited an August story from Reuters that said nearly half of the professional responsibility office's workforce has left during Trump's second term and that new investigations from it are at a 20-year low, "even as misconduct complaints soar."