U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich and Sheldon Whitehouse called on Aug. 5 for the Department of the Interior Deputy Inspector General Caryl Brzymialkiewicz to investigate what Department officials knew about engineering failures at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and whether employees withheld evidence from federal prosecutors.
The request follows recent court filings by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which moved to dismiss felony vandalism charges against Olympian David Hearn after acknowledging that the Department of the Interior had failed to provide information showing that problems with the Reflecting Pool’s lining predated Hearn’s arrest. The senators wrote, “We write to request that the Office of Inspector General investigate what employees of the Department of the Interior (DOI) knew—and when they knew it—regarding the peeling of the coating and other engineering issues at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.”
According to court documents, prosecutors relied on incomplete information from DOI and only received critical evidence after repeated requests. The filing revealed that a National Park Service engineer alerted DOI officials on June 11—eight days before Hearn was arrested—that there were already issues with peeling in the pool’s new lining. The senators questioned why key information was withheld from prosecutors and whether senior department officials continued to promote false claims even after evidence contradicted them.
The letter also referenced previous oversight efforts by Heinrich regarding cost overruns in rehabilitating the reflecting pool, where expenses grew from an estimated $1.5-2 million to over $16 million due to project complications and expanded scope.
In their conclusion, Heinrich and Whitehouse urged immediate action: “Accordingly, we urge your office to open an immediate investigation into DOI’s knowledge of coating and peeling issues with the Reflecting Pool—including what was known, who knew it, and when they knew it—and whether DOI employees intentionally withheld evidence from USAO-DC.”