Trump Reflecting Pool: Arrested man’s attorney laughs at charges

I want to bring in Norm Eisen, he's the attorney representing former U .S.Olympian David Hearn, who was arrested Friday for allegedly tampering with a reflecting pool.We should note Norm investigated Trump as counsel to House Judiciary Committee in the first impeachment of the trial of Donald Trump and litigated cases involving him previously.So Norm, can you just give us a recap of what your client, what David was doing on Friday when he was arrested?What does he say he was doing?

David is, as you know, Anderson, a decorated Olympian.He was on a long bike ride, as thousands of people do a day as a concerned citizen.He went to check out this mess that Donald Trump has created of the reflecting pool.He did not break the law.He did nothing that in a more normal time or even a few days ago was unusual.And every American should be concerned at these kinds of crackdowns by the administration.

There's been a long pattern.of this administration targeting innocent individuals, Attorney General Tish James, FBI Director Jim Comey.So Dave, he is the latest.

The president said that somebody cut a 250 foot thing with a knife, that other people have been tampering with knives.Did your client use any tool to peel off anything?

No.No, of course not, Anderson, and there'll be ample proof he could not have dragged a 250 -foot knife line down this pool.He did nothing unusual, nothing different.It appears that law enforcement was there in order tofind an excuse for the president to make these claims without evidence, Anderson.But we're talking about real human lives here.

So let me just ask, when he was arrested, did he have any large paint chips on him?I mean, these are questions I never thought I would be asking, but or any piece of the lining?

No, of course not.No, of course not, Anderson.This is a meritless prosecution.We will get into all the details in court.Every American should be concerned about this kind of thing.And of course, as you pointed out, there's no evidence for the things that the president has said.

Anderson, is my client responsible for those horrendous algae blooms or creating this perfect storm in the pool or having a composite material that is coming up off the bottom of the pool.Of course not.He's a cyclist who was going by a concerned citizen.Curious as Americans are about this mess.

What happened over the course of the five hours that he was held?

Well, he was wrongly detained, and he was eventually released, as they must do.He was issued misdemeanor citations, and we'll be back in court to contest those.He's innocent, he's done nothing wrong, and it's terrible that they're doing this to American people with these baseless charges, Anderson.By the way, He's represented our country.He's a decorated Olympian.He did nothing improper, illegal, or wrong in this situation.

Let me just ask you, the president has said there are photos.He wasn't specifying, as I understand, I don't believe he was specifying your client in particular.Do you believe there are any photos which would implicate your client?

There are no, my client did nothing wrong.He broke no laws.There are no photos that implicate him in any wrongdoing.Anderson, people have been checking out what is going on in that corrupt mess.at the Reflecting Pool, made on a no -bid contract with one of Donald Trump's cronies from Mar -a -Lago, involved in the affair, and blame is being cast about.Davey did nothing wrong here.

And it should be concerning to every American that someone who does nothing wrong, who goes by the Reflecting Pool, can be treated this way by the authorities.

Joining me now is Matt Visor from The Atlantic.Matt, you have been speaking to algae experts about the, you've become an algae expert really yourself, but you've been speaking to algae experts about the growth in the reflecting pool, about the Trump administration's efforts to contain the algae.You write, after a week of combat, they have essentially killed off one type of algae infesting the pool only to create the conditions for a new type to take over.What did you learn about what is going on?

So this occurred last week.I started to get frustrated.Nobody could tell me what kind of algae was growing in the pool.And so we had two samples that were sent off to two different researchers so that we could test the algae and determine that it was a genus called Skinodesmus, which as of last week, I did not know that name.So we are all learning things here.It is a green algae.

green algae.that has taken over from what seemed to be a blue -green algae that can be toxic that was there earlier in the week in some of the photos and clearly identified by these researchers, and which may have led ...I mean, we've seen some of the ducks and the wildlife down there killed over the past few days, which could have been from the toxic algae.

So is this new algae as toxic?

No, it's not as toxic, but it is rapidly growing.It's thicker than one of the researchers we consulted with had ever seen.So I think the new algae is just able to grow at a much faster rate, in part because of the hydrogen peroxide that National Park Service workers poured into the water last week, which did seem to effectively kill off the blue green algae that is more toxic.

But that hydrogen peroxide, and we saw bottles of it being poured in, that has... that has actually led to this other algae?

Yeah, it's created the conditions where now this other algae doesn't have to compete for nutrients with another type.And so it's been able to flourish in the water and create the different colors that we're seeing in the reflecting pool.

The owner of the company that did the waterproof lining of the pool in the interior department deflected the blame for the algae when you reached them.Did your experts suggest any of the changes President Trump made with the paint and the lining would be contributing to this particular bloom of algae?

In part, yes.I mean, Trump and this whole project have put this as like an incubator for algae to grow.The darker material at the base allows it to warm up a little bit easier in the water.So it's created the conditions.for the algae through this project to have it flourish in a much more rapid environment.

And in terms of the chances of fixing the algae issue, I mean, do you think the pool will be fixed up to the president's standards by July 4th weekend?

No, at least according to the people that we've been talking to.It needs to be cooler weather and the water, you know, if they drain the water, they'll need to retest and put some water in there that has fewer nutrients where algae can flourish.But really, I mean, one of the people I talked to said if you were going to create an environment for algae to grow, you would have it in just this type of environment that you have a shallow pool, a lot of water and a hot environment.And it's almost the perfect scenario to have LGB blooming in this reflecting pool.

My political sources are here to talk about this.Karen Finney, senior advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, and Scott Jennings, former special assistant to President George W. Bush.Okay, Scott, first to you.I mean, paint the pool blue and scream about the green hue.Is he in danger of looking a bit like the Queen of Hearts here with this paint the roses red and off with their head business?

Well, I think he's in danger of looking like he cares about Washington, D .C., looking as best as it can for America 250.And that's what this is all about.They fixed a bunch of fountains in town.They cleaned up the city.

The streets are safer.And he wants the reflecting pool to look nice for America 250.I don't think you can fault the president for that.In fact, Barack Obama also tried to work on the reflecting pool as well.I think it's a good thing, honestly, that We have a president that's taken some interest in trying to fix up the city, including this reflecting pool.I wish him well in his battle against the algae.

It's the summer, and this is a stagnant pool of water in the middle of a swamp.Algae is basically undefeated for 1 .6 billion years.It's hard toof.I fight it my property back in Kentucky him well.But overall, I' efforts to beautify Washi things have been neglect he's taken care of quite Good luck to the president on this.

I think he's already made a tremendous progress.

Yeah, algae is a pain.My kids have a fish tank, which is to say I have a fish tank and it's a real, it is a pain.But Karen, in all seriousness here, um, these prosecutions that Jeanine Pirro is saying that she's going to do.

Yeah.Look, it's a metaphor for so many of the things that are wrong in Trump's Washington.You would think that Jeanine Pirro has other more important things to do than prosecute a canoeist who apparently, you know, was, you know, dropped cycling by and saw what was happening and maybe put his hand in the water and now is facing charges.We saw reports earlier today to a young woman was saying she was proactively told don't touch the water or you'll get arrested and she was like I wasn't planning to touch the water there's algae in there.So but you know I mean it's a multi -million dollar project the fact that it was a no -bid contract there are questions about you know Are there other things that could have been done to avoid the algae?