Overview
- Prosecutors asked a court last Friday to dismiss the felony indictment against David Hearn after Interior Department files and contractor notes showed widespread liner failure tied to a fast‑tracked installation.
- Hearn’s lawyers responded by asking the judge to dismiss the case with prejudice and to compel grand‑jury materials, saying prosecutors sought the indictment before the government had evaluated available evidence.
- The Justice Department also moved to drop misdemeanor cases against three other defendants as its review pointed to contractor errors rather than deliberate vandalism.
- Records and expert inspections describe specific installation problems — overspray and delamination of the pool liner, circulation pipes buried or misrouted, and a darker liner that raised temperatures and encouraged algae — and the work was done under a largely no‑bid $14–16 million contract to Atlantic Industrial Coatings.
- The dispute has produced a heated Oval Office clash between U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a public rebuke from President Trump, and likely congressional and civil follow‑up over procurement, preservation and prosecutorial choices.