# Reflecting Pool case against David Hearn dropped **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [August 1, 2026, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087 "2026-08-01T20:14:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/41 "2026-08-02T19:15:40Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I hate to admit it, but if I did something that wasn’t illegal, and Trump set his sights on me, I’d pay a grand to make it go away. That’s exactly why I wouldn’t pay the Danegeld. Because fighting it is the only thing that has a chance of making it go away. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/42 "2026-08-02T19:25:30Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > it illegal to knowingly lie to the court? It is certainly contept or court, is it not? I’m not familiar with Pirro case, so I’ll answer generally. Generally, No. It’s not a crime to lie to a court. I’m just talking about talking at a hearing or the words in your pleading or motion, etc. It can be a crime to lie under oath / sworn testimony. Lawyers don’t commonly do that, though. Not prosecutors at least. Thats just for the lie itself; is the lie a crime. I could see it being a crime if the lie is a factor in a different crime. Like a fraud crime, obstruction, or witness tampering, or conspiracy to use the court for criminal purposes. Crimes that involve lying. And you’re right, Lying to the Court is sanctionable conduct and the Judge can hold you in contempt. A related issue is, who would even charge her with a crime? The criminals are in charge of justice. ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/43 "2026-08-02T19:30:10Z")
I read that the reflecting pool was leaking a million gallons a day. That’s a lot of water going into the ground. I always thought that calling Washington DC a swamp was in the figurative sense. Isn’t it strange to build a pool in a swamp? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/44 "2026-08-02T19:35:43Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > And you’re right, Lying to the Court is sanctionable conduct and the Judge can hold you in contempt. I kinda thought so. Doesn’t some sort of reasonable knowledge or something involved? If I swore my wife of 29 years was 6 feet tall (she’s 5 feet tall), and and it was part of the case because you would have to be 6 feet tall to commit a crime, could I be held in contempt? ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/45 "2026-08-02T19:52:33Z")
You’re flipping roles around so let me make sure I understand the premise. The premise in my mind is you’re a witness on the stand at trial giving testimony under oath. If you’re the witness and you lie under oath about a material fact of a criminal case, you would not be held in contempt by the Judge. However, you would have likely committed the crime of perjury. Possible to hold a witness in contempt for lying, but it would be more an obstruction thing, repeatedly lying and making a mockery of the Court. If that’s not the premise you were thinking, let me know. The situation I was referring to in my previous post was a lawyer at a, say, oral argument lying to the Judge. In most interactions with a Judge, The lawyer is not typically under oath when they communicate with a Judge. While witnesses typically would be under oath. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/46 "2026-08-02T20:23:41Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I’ll tell them “you want the truth? Read a few court transcripts”. “They’re all woke judges and part of the grand conspiracy against the Greatest President of All Time!!1!” You can’t logic someone out of a position they didn’t logic themselves into. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/47 "2026-08-02T20:53:12Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > If you’re the witness and you lie under oath about a material fact of a criminal case, you would not be held in contempt by the Judge. However, you would have likely committed the crime of perjury. Ok, I know nothing about law really. I confused perjury with contempt. It’s a mess. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/48 "2026-08-02T21:05:08Z")
Does Hearn have a reasonable case against Pirro or the DOJ for malicious prosecution? Could the possibility of being sued for malicious prosecution be why Pirro dropped the charges? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/49 "2026-08-02T21:40:34Z")
Yeah, you’re probably right, but if I could change one trumper’s mind with that argument it would be worth it. There are a few shaky trump supporters in my extended family who support him only because they are lifelong Repubs and feel they need to. I have a feeling that, maybe 5, maybe 10 years on, when trumpism has gotten as discredited as Stalinism became in the Soviet Union, a lot of current trump supporters will be claiming “I knew he was bad for the country early on”. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/50 "2026-08-02T22:02:33Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > Pirro should not be licensed based on her conduct. I expect that’s why she’s hitting the ‘we were misled by the Department of the Interior’ story so hard. She’s on tape declaring that some combination of actually-existing videos, photos, and witness testimony constitute Evidence that Hearn had damaged the pool liner. So now her story is that Burgum TOLD HER he had all or some of those things (e.g. video of Hearn using a broadsword to rip up 350 feet of the liner). Her position is 'all I can do is go by what Burgum told me." She would laugh to scorn the idea that she should have asked to _ **see** _ some of the ‘evidence’ before filing charges. ---
**Author:** ![Ancient\_Nerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed655f/32.png) [@Ancient\_Nerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ancient_Nerd)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/51 "2026-08-02T22:17:04Z")
> [@ricepad](#): > > Could the possibility of being sued for malicious prosecution be why Pirro dropped the charges? In the runup to the midterms with el donald doing so much whining that we are tired of all the whining. ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/52 "2026-08-02T23:28:28Z")
This is a good overview by Michael Popok. [Trump LOSES IT and Urges DOJ to Use FALSE Evidence to Obtain Criminal Indictments No Matter What](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw_rWqZ--qo)! > The articles of impeachment should be drawn up already ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/53 "2026-08-03T00:02:57Z")
> [@billy-jack](#): > > Isn’t it strange to build a pool in a swamp? What was really strange was building a swamp in the pool. ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/54 "2026-08-03T00:28:46Z")
A swamp in a pool in a swamp. I don’t know how they ever thought that putting a dark liner that would result in warmer water wouldn’t lead to faster algae growth. When I was a kid, my grandparents (lived across the field from me) had a large stock tank inside the fenced off area around the barnyard (not a corral; the corral was a distinct part of the barnyard). It hosted a whole ecosystem in it. There were lily pads in the middle coming up to about two feet of the edge. There were also some other plants in it and a whole lot of different water bugs. It was magnificent. I was always fastened by it as a kid and would spend hours watching it. One time in the mid 1960s, my uncle took a fishing pole out and said that was going to catch a fish. I had no idea that there might be fish in it, but the idea was not impossible. He left the fishing pole leaning on the tank with a line going into the water. Then we went to town. After he returned and carried everything into the house, he went out to the tank and came back with a good sized fish. I was really impressed. I later found out that the fish did not come from the tank at all. The idea of the big Reflecting Pond with nothing but water in it does not appeal to me. If they put dirt in the bottom and lily pads and maybe a few fish, it would be extremely fascinating instead of dull and boring. As it is, it is nothing but a missed opportunity that could have been great. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/55 "2026-08-03T00:32:22Z")
> [@billy-jack](#): > > I don’t know how they ever thought that putting a dark liner that would result in warmer water wouldn’t lead to faster alge growth. The New York Times reported that there were nano-bubblers adjacent to the reflecting pool until they were removed prior to the Freedom 250 events on the National Mall. The bubblers were there to prevent algae growth. ---
**Author:** ![billy-jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@billy-jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billy-jack)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/56 "2026-08-03T00:34:34Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The New York Times reported that there were nano-bubblers adjacent to the reflecting pool until they were removed prior to the Freedom 250 events on the National Mall. The bubblers were there to prevent algae growth. For something like that to work, wouldn’t it need to be spread throughout the pond, not just around the edge? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/57 "2026-08-03T00:39:42Z")
Here’s a [gift link](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/us/politics/reflecting-pool-trump-algae.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2lA.6iDR.-pigWLNlgVQp&smid=url-share) to the New York Times article I mentioned. It shows the nano-bubblers along the perimeter. They were removed on June 12 and the next day, the water turned green. They were reinstalled within 36 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/58 "2026-08-03T01:14:21Z")
> [@billy-jack](#): > > A swamp in a pool in a swamp. And the swamp down in the valley-o. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/59 "2026-08-03T01:29:49Z")
Oh-oh the rattlin’ bog, the bog down in the valley-o … Yep, that’s what it seems to be. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2026, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087/60 "2026-08-03T01:53:50Z")
> [@billy-jack](#): > > Isn’t it strange to build a pool in a swamp? Yes. But that’s what they did. They drained a marsh. I believe the reflecting pool is even lower than the White House. See: [Malaria: The Evil Spirit of the White House](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/malaria-the-evil-spirit-of-the-white-house.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reflecting-pool-case-against-david-hearn-dropped/1032087.md?page=4)