In a stunning reversal, the DOJ admitted on Friday evening that a rush complete the reflecting pool, and botched work is to blame for the peeling liner in the National Mall’s reflecting pool, NOT a three time U.S. Olympic canoeist. In fact, in its filing, the U.S. Attorney’s office claims it didn’t have all the information from the Department of the Interior before presenting a grand jury with evidence that the damage to the reflecting pool was caused by vandals. So far, there’s been no official comment from the White House.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, that folks, fit is Saturday, August second, and the
US what's the first day.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm gonna keep going because mistakes happened, and I want
you all to know that this was happening actually on
Saturday August first.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We do this all the time.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Is the most difficult part of every podcast episode is
me getting the date right.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Well, it's because you work every day.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Perhaps, Hey, you all wouldn't believe the stress I'm under
just to get the date right off the top, and
I blew it.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
But hey, there it is Saturday, August.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
First, and today is a pretty extraordinary day because the
US government has just directly and unequivocally and stunningly just
admit it that the reflecting pool, all that damage had
nothing to do with vandalism. It was actually a really
(00:55):
crappy job. And with that, welcome to this Saturday August
first edition of Amy A.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
TJ. Robes.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
What was already one of the most ridiculous stories of
the year has just taken another absolutely stunning turn.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
It's kind of amazing that they admitted what we all
already knew. There was no proof ever that a vandal
or vandals cut a three hundred foot whatever in the
middle of the Yes, in the middle of the reflecting pool.
(01:30):
And they did it undetected because apparently there was no
video proving any of this. And yes, a former three
time US Olympian, I just had a hard time believing
after a what was it a sixty mile bike ride, Yes,
he was gonna just say, you know what I think
Now I'm gonna go vandalize the reflecting pool.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Now that's good times that made any sense, folks.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
They have just dismissed the charges against David Hearn, the
olymp that you mentioned, Robes. But in doing so they
had to make a pretty stunning court filing because they
had to explain why they brought this BS charge against
him in the first place, and in doing so, Robes
they had to admit they botched the job of redoing
(02:22):
the reflecting pool. The president, if he said at once,
he said it two hundred and fifty times in front
of cameras.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I like the number you chose.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yes, vandals did this. Left wing nuts did this. Leftists
did this. That might have thrown in the word domestic
terrorism at some point.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Did this.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Robes, They're responsible. He's a great builder. They messed up
my pool. They have officially, Robes said all of that
was a lie that was coming out of President's mouth.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Absolutely, and or he was given misinformation. That is what
the US attorneys offered, is saying that they weren't given
the information, and they ended up in this filing completely throwing.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
The Department of the Interior under the bus.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Like in every way, shape or form, that is going
to be the fall guy or the fall department or
whoever is responsible. And I wouldn't be surprised if there
aren't some heads rolling after this, because everyone needs to
point the finger away from President Trump and to someone
else who didn't give him the correct information.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Okay, even if you didn't have that information, Robe, you
also didn't have evidence of what you were saying. It
did not have any evidence. Nobody so any evidence. The
pool was right there in public. There's a three hundred
and fifty foot slit, and nobody else can see it
but President Trump.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
The part for me was that common sense was not
included in any of this because all of us lay people.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Don't know anything about pool lining.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I don't know anything about any of that, but it
was pretty obvious that what the President was saying happened
couldn't have happened, at least the way he said it did.
It did not make sense that there wasn't proof, that
there wasn't evidence. Reporters time and time again were asking
for photographic evidence. They were looking for surveillance cameras, and look,
if this was happening, if there was vandalism going on,
(04:12):
of course the media would be reporting on it. Of
course this would be a huge story if someone was
taking out political revenge by damaging this beautiful reflecting pool
that meant so much to the president.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
But that wasn't the case at all, and the government
has now admitted it officially. This is a line from
the filing to dismiss the charges. Quote the rush to
complete the project led to hasty and botched work that
was not remediated before the project was finished, and the
(04:45):
fencing removed. Almost immediately after work was initially completed, peeling
was observed along the pool perimeter road. They knew within
days that the stuff was coming up there.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
When you say they, you mean the Department of the Interior,
the government, the government, Yes, because yes, this filing absolutely
says it all. I mean, we don't even have to
because their words are just so stunning.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Was the word you used at the top. Oh, that
is the best way to describe.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
That, because of roads, how big this story was and
how much they pushed back repeatedly, and the President himself
in the Oval office, how many times he blamed this
on somebody else. Janine Piro, you remember that press.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Conference absolutely well.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
And I'm just wondering, by the way, what Janine Piro's
standing with President Trump is going to be after this,
because she is absolutely by her own words in this
filing refuting everything President Trump said was true.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
But she gave him an off ramp in that we
didn't have all the information. So here it is from
the top the filing here, and this also goes to
and we're just gonna read it directly to you Ropes.
It starts based upon the reports provided by the Department
of Interior and the US Park Police, the United States
Attorney's Office presented the grand jury with evidence that damage
(06:08):
to the reflecting pool was caused by vandals, including the
defendant in this case, David Hearn. However, it was not
until after the return of the indictment that the Department
of Interior provided additional documents to the Attorney's Office indicating
the damage to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in June
twenty twenty six was the result of flawed installation by
the contractor and the rush to complete the project prior
(06:32):
to events associated with America two point fifty celebration in
the week's surrounding.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Independence Day ropes.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
They're absolutely saying, we were in a hurry to get
this done for the President and that is why it
was jacked up.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Absolutely, And then it went on to say the damage
was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism
as initially represented by the Department of the Interior. Indeed,
the US Attorney Office could only rely on the information
provided by the Department of the Interior that the damage
(07:06):
was caused entirely by vandals, including the defendant in this case,
David hearn it ro This.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Doesn't make you're telling So they're saying the Department of
the Interior withheld information that caused us to bring a
false indictment.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Absolutely, that is exactly what they are saying. Exactly what
they were saying, and it gets worse from there. Look,
they claimed that the US Attorney's Office was not made
aware about any of this information until July seventeenth, and look,
Jeanine Piro herself toured the drain pool, and she said
she noticed the extensive damage. And that's when she requested
(07:44):
more information from the Department of the Interior, because yeah,
she's looking at it like the rest of us and saying, hmm.
What I've been told was the cause doesn't actually seem
possible given the extent of the damage.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And at that point, this is when she said, and
in this new quote, new documents indicated a rushed and
flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during
the installation process and extensive pealing of the lining throughout
the reflecting pool.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Robes. This is wild. This is absolutely wild.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And the best part of this robes is that the
final installation in the thing was open June ninth, June eleventh.
This was documented. This is a government. It was documented
and sent to his superiors what he saw. Two days later.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Two days after they said, we're.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Good, the reflecting pool is beautiful, President Trump puts all
those gorgeous photos up online. Two days later, an engineer
was alerted to peeling of the reflecting pool lining.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
The email he sent was.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
At noon that day, two days after the reflecting pool
was opened to another official and a Department of Interior personnel,
and this is what he said, Hello, all this morning,
an area of the reflecting pool coating was identified to
be peeling. Staff was notified and I was able to
inspect the area.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
He goes on in that email and he details it.
This is here, this is what's happening here, This is
what happened. This is why we think there was something
they called over spray that shows up in this dismissal.
Lie like you put too much of a layer. You're
in a hurry maybe, and you're you're just layering it up.
He said it was an over spray.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Do you know how I can relate to that? And
I think every woman listening will Sometimes when you go
to the nail salon and they put one too many
coats on, you actually end up it will flip off
and actually peel off completely off your nail, and you're like,
oh my goodness. So I always tell them to put
one less layer, because it's happened to me because somehow
the extra coating lifts it off.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
So you're telling me they spent sixteen million dollars on this,
hired all of these pool companies and all they had
to do was ask any woman in the country, and
you all could have told them.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Yeah, you can't put if you put one too many
layers on your fingernail, it will peel off.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
One hundred percent. Every woman knows that's happened to her.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
You're like first, like, oh, all these are beautiful, well,
my nails are kind of thick, and then boom, the
next day, one of them pops off.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
This is what they seem to explain ropes over.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
As soon as you explained it, I was like, I
know this phenomenon personally.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Else that's what they say, And it was happening two days.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Robes two days, Yes, that's about when my nail polish
will flip off.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Nobody had time to go decide to vandalize the damn pool. Absolutely, okay,
this is an absolute exoneration of any and everybody and
it is so damning.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Robes, well, I'm not sure what.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I can't remember what the story was the other day,
but the President put out a statement and I didn't
want us to report it because I needed to go
find confirmation or a second or third source. If it
comes out of the president's mouth, we should be able
to go okay, that he's not just looking us in
the face and lying to us.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Robes, we all knew this story didn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
And here's my question. This is what I wonder.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Yes, I know everyone's pointing to the Department of the Interior.
They lied, or at least they didn't give information in
real time that would have absolutely made a difference in
terms of where this investigation went into what was happening
with the reflecting pool, Right, But what if everyone is
so scared of upsetting the president? What if everyone is
so scared of actually telling the truth because the President
(11:32):
will be unhappy because we'll be upset that the contractor
they green lighted, or maybe even the contractor that he
greenlighted wasn't up to par or wasn't good enough. And
they don't want to tell him that a decision he
made was bad, so they just lie to make him
feel like he has a different enemy, that he doesn't
(11:54):
have to look inward, that he doesn't have to blame himself.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Ropes.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
No one has the ear of the president to say, hey,
I don't think we should say or you say that
right now. It might work politically, but this is going
to come back and really bite us in the butt
because we don't know any of that stuff you're out
there saying, or you can't.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
How about the people who knew that it was actually
botched installation after the second day speak up and till
the president.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Do you really imagine that engineer was allowed one anywhere
near the president and two would dare open his mouth publicly?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
But I guess you're right one hundred percent. But someone
somewhere made a choice not to tell the president the truth.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
There's someone listening, and someone who might assume that the
president knew damn well what he was saying was not true,
and what he was saying worked for him politically, and
it covered his It covered his assertion of just how
wonderful of a builder he is. He can do it
what under budget, and he can do it ahead a schedule.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Absolutely, I am not suggesting that it couldn't have been
his choice to lie, but it does seem even more
reasonable that people are afraid to tell him the truth.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I would buy both of those.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I just know Robes what was coming out of his
mouth made sense to nobody who was listening. So how
did it make sense to him?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Because because in his mind, he's always right.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Okay, so delusional is what? Yes?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Absolutely, well, this next bit here will share robes. This
is Janine Piro's office completely throwing the Department of Interior
under the bus. Robes like intentionally they are accusing them,
(13:50):
not just of being incompetent.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
It sounds like to me.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Oh, absolutely, this actually sounds like, well, she was a prosecutor,
so this sounds like a prosecutor or maybe even a
defense attorney upset at the prosecutor for not giving them
all the information in discovery. So she knows how that
game is played. And that's a lot how this reads.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
She said.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
All of these concerns were raised by the engineer on
June eleventh, eight days before the defendant was arrested, and
the same day that fencing was removed from the site. However,
the information subsequently demanded by the US Attorney's Office disclosed
by the Department of the Interior, which was not known
to the prosecutors or the grand jury before the return
(14:31):
of the indictment, strongly suggests that a rushed and botched
installation by the primary contractor led to the damage to
the lining of the reflecting pool. It was not until
the US Attorney's Office repeatedly reached out to the Department
of the Interior dozens and dozens of times that the
Department of the Interior slowly started trickling, trickling, trickling information
(14:57):
to the US Attorney's Office.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Had the Department.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Of the Interior been forthcoming with the information clearly in
its possession, the government would not have sought a grand
jury indictment.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Well, that sound like some uh you but there, because
can't you get in trouble for knowingly bringing a ball diamond?
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Absolutely shying her and the president.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
She didn't have to say dozens and dozens of times
she used the word trickling intentionally, Robes, they weren't forthcoming,
they were not fourth coming. Well, that sounds like an
intentional act. They're suggesting this was kept from us, which
fooled us. So we just we just listened to what
they said. Is that all it takes?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Really, y'all think somebody really and I don't know who
told them that.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
That's the thing. Nobody told them that they reached that conclusion.
And now they're saying there was information that proved it
was something else. Roes, they weren't told that someone vandalized
the joint. They just decided to reach that conclusion.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Oh this just is so smelly.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Well we also had got an answer though about that
three hundred and fifty foot slit that the President talked about.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Oh you're gonna love this. One's there and.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Oh, welcome back to Amy and DJ. We are continuing
to discuss the reflecting pool woes. The good news is
the man who represented the United States three times in
the Olympics as a canoeist is now finally no longer
facing felony charges and ten years in prison for vandalizing
the reflecting pool because it turns out, yes, even the
(16:47):
Department of Justice is admitting that it in fact was
what was it botched installation and a rush job basically
to complete the reflecting pool into I'm for the fourth
of July, and so wow, we are having a complete
about face. There's not an apology in there. There's a
(17:10):
people have been calling this the deflection pool. Everyone's just
pointing fingers and apparently it's all the Department of Interior's fault.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Uh yeah, and that is on record. Now somebody's gonna
have to get fired. Well, they did all this on
a Friday.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Someone's gonna have to get fired.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
This question is going to be asked on Monday.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yes, he gave reporters a weekend to research and do this.
They have to ask some questions or robes. Will something
else happen? Will another bomb drop?
Speaker 1 (17:35):
In? Ran to where this moves to the back?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Wag the dog?
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Always always a strategy that you could possibly employ.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I got, all right, Well, the president's three hundred and
fifty foot slip.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I said three hundred feet, But it was three hundred
and fifty feet.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Bro, he said, I think at one point he said
two fifty and then it was it.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Did all around. He's been moving it, but it's three
fifty right now. That was the longest one we got.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Last I heard it was a two thousand foot slip.
All right?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Is three hundred and fifty foot slit?
Speaker 4 (18:03):
We've been asking when I say we members of the
press and we've watched in the Oval office, can we
have some pictures?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Can we have some photos?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
They asked Janine Piro, They asked President Trump and they
said you'll see it when we go to court.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, they don't want to go to court no more.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
But they say in this filing again, the filing in
which they're asking for the charges to be dropped against
David Hearn, they say, and this was at the an
Ropes quote. Finally, a recent visual inspection showed damage throughout
the reflecting pool, even in the middle of the pool,
where a vandal would not likely attempt to peel the lining.
(18:40):
Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult
to attribute to the widespread damage to the reflecting pool
to vandalism, let alone to establish the fact beyond a
reasonable doubt.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
So that there, okay, so I feel like that means
there might be a three hundred and fifty foot slit
in the middle of the pool. But there's just no
way in hell that could have come from a vandal
And we all knew this when we heard it. That's
one of the things Ropes.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
We all see a video and they tell us our eyes,
our own eyes are lying to us. We hear a
story as ridiculous as the one that they were putting
out about the reflecting pool and somebody going out there
with a knife and making a three hundred and fifty.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Foot It was just imagining someone with like a box
cutter or something and in the middle of that and
just standing in the pool and the gate just going
down in the middle.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
No one saw anyone do that, and they.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Happened to do that at a time when all the
cameras in Washington, DC don't work.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
No one had cell phones out, no one saw nothing.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And then a sixty year old man on a fifty
mile bike ride wants to stop by and violently pull
up pieces of the pool. And yes, everything we heard,
we're saying it now, you're laughing.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
We heard it at the time, and we were laughing.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Weren't we though, kind of, but it was ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
He's getting told that. We're the ridiculous ones for recognizing
how stupid of a story we were being told. So
this is just we all knew this. We all knew it,
you know.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
And I do think it's interesting because we did hear
from David Hearn's attorney. We haven't heard directly from him.
I can't wait until that day happens. You got to
think it's going to happen soon Monday, it happens, That's exactly.
But I do appreciate what his attorney said. He said,
the dismissal of charges does not erase the abuse of
government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who
(20:37):
did nothing wrong. The government's approach was ready fire aim
the administration owes mister Hearne an apology.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
You can't argue with that. I mean, why not? Why
not give him apology? Just of course? Not what am
I saying?
Speaker 3 (20:51):
What have we heard from the White House?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Nothing yet on this one. I was just checking to
make sure the President hadn't done anything on truth. So
now they won't. You won't hear a word about it.
You gotta let it go away because the president has
egg on his face, and everyone we believed you, mister president,
even his people could go I believe what he was saying?
Or are they going to make excuses for him again?
(21:13):
It's it's not okay man. This guy was He represented
the country on the world stage. Shouldn't we be a
little better?
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Yes, we should, There's no question.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Carolyn love Ittt absolutely is going to face that as well,
so will President Trump. Don't know what their responses are
going to be, but most certainly we're going to have
reporters asking about this directly on Monday, if not sooner.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That's too bad for this guy.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
He was sixty old man who got put in handcuffs,
ropes in his biking outfit.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
That's all right, folks.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Well Westery solved the title we had for this in
our own personal notes at the top said new Pool Boy.
So let's leave with that and laugh a little bit.
But it really is a damn shame what happened in
this thing. But we appreciate you as always. Folks spend
a lot of time with us on t J. That's Robes.
(22:03):
We'll talk to you also.
Hey, that folks, fit is Saturday, August second, and the
US what's the first day.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm gonna keep going because mistakes happened, and I want
you all to know that this was happening actually on
Saturday August first.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We do this all the time.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Is the most difficult part of every podcast episode is
me getting the date right.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Well, it's because you work every day.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Perhaps, Hey, you all wouldn't believe the stress I'm under
just to get the date right off the top, and
I blew it.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
But hey, there it is Saturday, August.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
First, and today is a pretty extraordinary day because the
US government has just directly and unequivocally and stunningly just
admit it that the reflecting pool, all that damage had
nothing to do with vandalism. It was actually a really
(00:55):
crappy job. And with that, welcome to this Saturday August
first edition of Amy A.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
TJ. Robes.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
What was already one of the most ridiculous stories of
the year has just taken another absolutely stunning turn.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
It's kind of amazing that they admitted what we all
already knew. There was no proof ever that a vandal
or vandals cut a three hundred foot whatever in the
middle of the Yes, in the middle of the reflecting pool.
(01:30):
And they did it undetected because apparently there was no
video proving any of this. And yes, a former three
time US Olympian, I just had a hard time believing
after a what was it a sixty mile bike ride, Yes,
he was gonna just say, you know what I think
Now I'm gonna go vandalize the reflecting pool.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Now that's good times that made any sense, folks.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
They have just dismissed the charges against David Hearn, the
olymp that you mentioned, Robes. But in doing so they
had to make a pretty stunning court filing because they
had to explain why they brought this BS charge against
him in the first place, and in doing so, Robes
they had to admit they botched the job of redoing
(02:22):
the reflecting pool. The president, if he said at once,
he said it two hundred and fifty times in front
of cameras.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I like the number you chose.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yes, vandals did this. Left wing nuts did this. Leftists
did this. That might have thrown in the word domestic
terrorism at some point.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Did this.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Robes, They're responsible. He's a great builder. They messed up
my pool. They have officially, Robes said all of that
was a lie that was coming out of President's mouth.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Absolutely, and or he was given misinformation. That is what
the US attorneys offered, is saying that they weren't given
the information, and they ended up in this filing completely throwing.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
The Department of the Interior under the bus.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
Like in every way, shape or form, that is going
to be the fall guy or the fall department or
whoever is responsible. And I wouldn't be surprised if there
aren't some heads rolling after this, because everyone needs to
point the finger away from President Trump and to someone
else who didn't give him the correct information.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Okay, even if you didn't have that information, Robe, you
also didn't have evidence of what you were saying. It
did not have any evidence. Nobody so any evidence. The
pool was right there in public. There's a three hundred
and fifty foot slit, and nobody else can see it
but President Trump.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
The part for me was that common sense was not
included in any of this because all of us lay people.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Don't know anything about pool lining.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I don't know anything about any of that, but it
was pretty obvious that what the President was saying happened
couldn't have happened, at least the way he said it did.
It did not make sense that there wasn't proof, that
there wasn't evidence. Reporters time and time again were asking
for photographic evidence. They were looking for surveillance cameras, and look,
if this was happening, if there was vandalism going on,
(04:12):
of course the media would be reporting on it. Of
course this would be a huge story if someone was
taking out political revenge by damaging this beautiful reflecting pool
that meant so much to the president.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
But that wasn't the case at all, and the government
has now admitted it officially. This is a line from
the filing to dismiss the charges. Quote the rush to
complete the project led to hasty and botched work that
was not remediated before the project was finished, and the
(04:45):
fencing removed. Almost immediately after work was initially completed, peeling
was observed along the pool perimeter road. They knew within
days that the stuff was coming up there.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
When you say they, you mean the Department of the Interior,
the government, the government, Yes, because yes, this filing absolutely
says it all. I mean, we don't even have to
because their words are just so stunning.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Was the word you used at the top. Oh, that
is the best way to describe.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
That, because of roads, how big this story was and
how much they pushed back repeatedly, and the President himself
in the Oval office, how many times he blamed this
on somebody else. Janine Piro, you remember that press.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Conference absolutely well.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
And I'm just wondering, by the way, what Janine Piro's
standing with President Trump is going to be after this,
because she is absolutely by her own words in this
filing refuting everything President Trump said was true.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
But she gave him an off ramp in that we
didn't have all the information. So here it is from
the top the filing here, and this also goes to
and we're just gonna read it directly to you Ropes.
It starts based upon the reports provided by the Department
of Interior and the US Park Police, the United States
Attorney's Office presented the grand jury with evidence that damage
(06:08):
to the reflecting pool was caused by vandals, including the
defendant in this case, David Hearn. However, it was not
until after the return of the indictment that the Department
of Interior provided additional documents to the Attorney's Office indicating
the damage to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in June
twenty twenty six was the result of flawed installation by
the contractor and the rush to complete the project prior
(06:32):
to events associated with America two point fifty celebration in
the week's surrounding.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Independence Day ropes.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
They're absolutely saying, we were in a hurry to get
this done for the President and that is why it
was jacked up.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Absolutely, And then it went on to say the damage
was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism
as initially represented by the Department of the Interior. Indeed,
the US Attorney Office could only rely on the information
provided by the Department of the Interior that the damage
(07:06):
was caused entirely by vandals, including the defendant in this case,
David hearn it ro This.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Doesn't make you're telling So they're saying the Department of
the Interior withheld information that caused us to bring a
false indictment.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Absolutely, that is exactly what they are saying. Exactly what
they were saying, and it gets worse from there. Look,
they claimed that the US Attorney's Office was not made
aware about any of this information until July seventeenth, and look,
Jeanine Piro herself toured the drain pool, and she said
she noticed the extensive damage. And that's when she requested
(07:44):
more information from the Department of the Interior, because yeah,
she's looking at it like the rest of us and saying, hmm.
What I've been told was the cause doesn't actually seem
possible given the extent of the damage.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And at that point, this is when she said, and
in this new quote, new documents indicated a rushed and
flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during
the installation process and extensive pealing of the lining throughout
the reflecting pool.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Robes. This is wild. This is absolutely wild.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And the best part of this robes is that the
final installation in the thing was open June ninth, June eleventh.
This was documented. This is a government. It was documented
and sent to his superiors what he saw. Two days later.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Two days after they said, we're.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Good, the reflecting pool is beautiful, President Trump puts all
those gorgeous photos up online. Two days later, an engineer
was alerted to peeling of the reflecting pool lining.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
The email he sent was.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
At noon that day, two days after the reflecting pool
was opened to another official and a Department of Interior personnel,
and this is what he said, Hello, all this morning,
an area of the reflecting pool coating was identified to
be peeling. Staff was notified and I was able to
inspect the area.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
He goes on in that email and he details it.
This is here, this is what's happening here, This is
what happened. This is why we think there was something
they called over spray that shows up in this dismissal.
Lie like you put too much of a layer. You're
in a hurry maybe, and you're you're just layering it up.
He said it was an over spray.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Do you know how I can relate to that? And
I think every woman listening will Sometimes when you go
to the nail salon and they put one too many
coats on, you actually end up it will flip off
and actually peel off completely off your nail, and you're like,
oh my goodness. So I always tell them to put
one less layer, because it's happened to me because somehow
the extra coating lifts it off.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
So you're telling me they spent sixteen million dollars on this,
hired all of these pool companies and all they had
to do was ask any woman in the country, and
you all could have told them.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Yeah, you can't put if you put one too many
layers on your fingernail, it will peel off.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
One hundred percent. Every woman knows that's happened to her.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
You're like first, like, oh, all these are beautiful, well,
my nails are kind of thick, and then boom, the
next day, one of them pops off.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
This is what they seem to explain ropes over.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
As soon as you explained it, I was like, I
know this phenomenon personally.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Else that's what they say, And it was happening two days.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Robes two days, Yes, that's about when my nail polish
will flip off.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Nobody had time to go decide to vandalize the damn pool. Absolutely, okay,
this is an absolute exoneration of any and everybody and
it is so damning.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Robes, well, I'm not sure what.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I can't remember what the story was the other day,
but the President put out a statement and I didn't
want us to report it because I needed to go
find confirmation or a second or third source. If it
comes out of the president's mouth, we should be able
to go okay, that he's not just looking us in
the face and lying to us.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Robes, we all knew this story didn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
And here's my question. This is what I wonder.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Yes, I know everyone's pointing to the Department of the Interior.
They lied, or at least they didn't give information in
real time that would have absolutely made a difference in
terms of where this investigation went into what was happening
with the reflecting pool, Right, But what if everyone is
so scared of upsetting the president? What if everyone is
so scared of actually telling the truth because the President
(11:32):
will be unhappy because we'll be upset that the contractor
they green lighted, or maybe even the contractor that he
greenlighted wasn't up to par or wasn't good enough. And
they don't want to tell him that a decision he
made was bad, so they just lie to make him
feel like he has a different enemy, that he doesn't
(11:54):
have to look inward, that he doesn't have to blame himself.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Ropes.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
No one has the ear of the president to say, hey,
I don't think we should say or you say that
right now. It might work politically, but this is going
to come back and really bite us in the butt
because we don't know any of that stuff you're out
there saying, or you can't.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
How about the people who knew that it was actually
botched installation after the second day speak up and till
the president.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Do you really imagine that engineer was allowed one anywhere
near the president and two would dare open his mouth publicly?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
But I guess you're right one hundred percent. But someone
somewhere made a choice not to tell the president the truth.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
There's someone listening, and someone who might assume that the
president knew damn well what he was saying was not true,
and what he was saying worked for him politically, and
it covered his It covered his assertion of just how
wonderful of a builder he is. He can do it
what under budget, and he can do it ahead a schedule.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Absolutely, I am not suggesting that it couldn't have been
his choice to lie, but it does seem even more
reasonable that people are afraid to tell him the truth.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I would buy both of those.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I just know Robes what was coming out of his
mouth made sense to nobody who was listening. So how
did it make sense to him?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Because because in his mind, he's always right.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Okay, so delusional is what? Yes?
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Absolutely, well, this next bit here will share robes. This
is Janine Piro's office completely throwing the Department of Interior
under the bus. Robes like intentionally they are accusing them,
(13:50):
not just of being incompetent.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
It sounds like to me.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
Oh, absolutely, this actually sounds like, well, she was a prosecutor,
so this sounds like a prosecutor or maybe even a
defense attorney upset at the prosecutor for not giving them
all the information in discovery. So she knows how that
game is played. And that's a lot how this reads.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
She said.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
All of these concerns were raised by the engineer on
June eleventh, eight days before the defendant was arrested, and
the same day that fencing was removed from the site. However,
the information subsequently demanded by the US Attorney's Office disclosed
by the Department of the Interior, which was not known
to the prosecutors or the grand jury before the return
(14:31):
of the indictment, strongly suggests that a rushed and botched
installation by the primary contractor led to the damage to
the lining of the reflecting pool. It was not until
the US Attorney's Office repeatedly reached out to the Department
of the Interior dozens and dozens of times that the
Department of the Interior slowly started trickling, trickling, trickling information
(14:57):
to the US Attorney's Office.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Had the Department.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Of the Interior been forthcoming with the information clearly in
its possession, the government would not have sought a grand
jury indictment.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Well, that sound like some uh you but there, because
can't you get in trouble for knowingly bringing a ball diamond?
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Absolutely shying her and the president.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
She didn't have to say dozens and dozens of times
she used the word trickling intentionally, Robes, they weren't forthcoming,
they were not fourth coming. Well, that sounds like an
intentional act. They're suggesting this was kept from us, which
fooled us. So we just we just listened to what
they said. Is that all it takes?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Really, y'all think somebody really and I don't know who
told them that.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
That's the thing. Nobody told them that they reached that conclusion.
And now they're saying there was information that proved it
was something else. Roes, they weren't told that someone vandalized
the joint. They just decided to reach that conclusion.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Oh this just is so smelly.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Well we also had got an answer though about that
three hundred and fifty foot slit that the President talked about.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Oh you're gonna love this. One's there and.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Oh, welcome back to Amy and DJ. We are continuing
to discuss the reflecting pool woes. The good news is
the man who represented the United States three times in
the Olympics as a canoeist is now finally no longer
facing felony charges and ten years in prison for vandalizing
the reflecting pool because it turns out, yes, even the
(16:47):
Department of Justice is admitting that it in fact was
what was it botched installation and a rush job basically
to complete the reflecting pool into I'm for the fourth
of July, and so wow, we are having a complete
about face. There's not an apology in there. There's a
(17:10):
people have been calling this the deflection pool. Everyone's just
pointing fingers and apparently it's all the Department of Interior's fault.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Uh yeah, and that is on record. Now somebody's gonna
have to get fired. Well, they did all this on
a Friday.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
Someone's gonna have to get fired.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
This question is going to be asked on Monday.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yes, he gave reporters a weekend to research and do this.
They have to ask some questions or robes. Will something
else happen? Will another bomb drop?
Speaker 1 (17:35):
In? Ran to where this moves to the back?
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Wag the dog?
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Always always a strategy that you could possibly employ.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I got, all right, Well, the president's three hundred and
fifty foot slip.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I said three hundred feet, But it was three hundred
and fifty feet.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Bro, he said, I think at one point he said
two fifty and then it was it.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Did all around. He's been moving it, but it's three
fifty right now. That was the longest one we got.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Last I heard it was a two thousand foot slip.
All right?
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Is three hundred and fifty foot slit?
Speaker 4 (18:03):
We've been asking when I say we members of the
press and we've watched in the Oval office, can we
have some pictures?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Can we have some photos?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
They asked Janine Piro, They asked President Trump and they
said you'll see it when we go to court.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, they don't want to go to court no more.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
But they say in this filing again, the filing in
which they're asking for the charges to be dropped against
David Hearn, they say, and this was at the an
Ropes quote. Finally, a recent visual inspection showed damage throughout
the reflecting pool, even in the middle of the pool,
where a vandal would not likely attempt to peel the lining.
(18:40):
Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult
to attribute to the widespread damage to the reflecting pool
to vandalism, let alone to establish the fact beyond a
reasonable doubt.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
So that there, okay, so I feel like that means
there might be a three hundred and fifty foot slit
in the middle of the pool. But there's just no
way in hell that could have come from a vandal
And we all knew this when we heard it. That's
one of the things Ropes.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
We all see a video and they tell us our eyes,
our own eyes are lying to us. We hear a
story as ridiculous as the one that they were putting
out about the reflecting pool and somebody going out there
with a knife and making a three hundred and fifty.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Foot It was just imagining someone with like a box
cutter or something and in the middle of that and
just standing in the pool and the gate just going
down in the middle.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
No one saw anyone do that, and they.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Happened to do that at a time when all the
cameras in Washington, DC don't work.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
No one had cell phones out, no one saw nothing.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And then a sixty year old man on a fifty
mile bike ride wants to stop by and violently pull
up pieces of the pool. And yes, everything we heard,
we're saying it now, you're laughing.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
We heard it at the time, and we were laughing.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Weren't we though, kind of, but it was ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
He's getting told that. We're the ridiculous ones for recognizing
how stupid of a story we were being told. So
this is just we all knew this. We all knew it,
you know.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
And I do think it's interesting because we did hear
from David Hearn's attorney. We haven't heard directly from him.
I can't wait until that day happens. You got to
think it's going to happen soon Monday, it happens, That's exactly.
But I do appreciate what his attorney said. He said,
the dismissal of charges does not erase the abuse of
government power in arresting and charging a patriotic American who
(20:37):
did nothing wrong. The government's approach was ready fire aim
the administration owes mister Hearne an apology.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
You can't argue with that. I mean, why not? Why
not give him apology? Just of course? Not what am
I saying?
Speaker 3 (20:51):
What have we heard from the White House?
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Nothing yet on this one. I was just checking to
make sure the President hadn't done anything on truth. So
now they won't. You won't hear a word about it.
You gotta let it go away because the president has
egg on his face, and everyone we believed you, mister president,
even his people could go I believe what he was saying?
Or are they going to make excuses for him again?
(21:13):
It's it's not okay man. This guy was He represented
the country on the world stage. Shouldn't we be a
little better?
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Yes, we should, There's no question.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Carolyn love Ittt absolutely is going to face that as well,
so will President Trump. Don't know what their responses are
going to be, but most certainly we're going to have
reporters asking about this directly on Monday, if not sooner.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
That's too bad for this guy.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
He was sixty old man who got put in handcuffs,
ropes in his biking outfit.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
That's all right, folks.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Well Westery solved the title we had for this in
our own personal notes at the top said new Pool Boy.
So let's leave with that and laugh a little bit.
But it really is a damn shame what happened in
this thing. But we appreciate you as always. Folks spend
a lot of time with us on t J. That's Robes.
(22:03):
We'll talk to you also.
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