CNN’s token MAGA host says the Trump administration owes the supposed “reflecting pool vandal” an apology.
Scott Jennings tore into the Justice Department on Friday after prosecutors admitted the damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was not caused by former Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn, but was instead the result of a botched installation.
“On this one, the administration looks like a monkey having intimate relations with a football,” Jennings said on CNN’s The Source. “It looks terrible.”
He added that Hearn “is owed an apology” and “ought to sue anybody that he thinks he can to get his name back.”
The comments came hours after the Justice Department moved to dismiss its felony case against Hearn, who was arrested last month and wrongly accused of causing more than $1,000 in damage by pulling up the pool’s new blue liner with his hands.
Prosecutors acknowledged they did not have the evidence to support the charge after receiving documents from the Interior Department showing the damage was actually caused by a flawed installation by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings.
“Had [the Interior Department] been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment,” the court filing said.
The Justice Department said it only later learned the damage stemmed from a botched installation, making it “difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the reflecting pool to vandalism, let alone establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Hearn pleaded not guilty after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro dramatically announced the charges at a press conference, where she accused the former Olympian of deliberately damaging the pool.
The case became a centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s claims that “vandals” armed with knives, razors, and box cutters sabotaged the newly renovated monument. Trump, 80, repeatedly called the alleged culprits “thugs” and “sick” while alleging they peeled the liner.
The administration’s claims were, not surprisingly, quickly seized on by the president’s favorite news network. Fox News devoted multiple segments to Hearn’s arrest, with Jesse Watters highlighting his past Democratic political donations under the chyron “DEM DONOR ARRESTED FOR POOL VANDALISM.” Sean Hannity blamed “left-wing activists,” while Laura Ingraham urged Democrats to condemn the supposed vandalism.
Jennings said the DOJ ultimately made the right call by dropping the case.
“They dragged this guy’s name through the mud,” he said. “If they don’t have evidence, they shouldn’t be trying to go to trial. So that’s good that they admitted it.”
