Reflecting Pool interviews: CEO, olympian & attorney react to the saga

0 August 16, 2026 11:00

Trump set out in late March to renovate the Reflecting Pool, which he described as “absolutely filthy” and vowed to make it “look gorgeous.” One of his changes was to paint the bottom of the pool “American flag blue.” By June 11, a National Park Service engineer’s saw that this bottom layer was peeling, a phenomenon that Trump blamed on vandalism.

David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, was arrested and indicted when he reached into the Reflecting Pool. The case was later dismissed after the Justice Department admitted that the $14 million renovation was flawed.

CNN spoke to Hearn’s attorney, the CEO of the company in charge of the pool’s water quality and David Hearn through the saga.

0:00 David Hearn is indicted
0:35 Hearn’s attorney speaks out after the indictment
5:27 ‘We’ve never done a pool’: CEO in charge of Trump’s reflecting pool
8:01 Olympian David Hearn tells his story to Kaitlan Collins
13:43 How the charges affected Hearn

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