Tipsheet

Doug Burgum Embarrasses CNN's Dana Bash Over Reflecting Pool Vandal

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  July 06, 2026 1:00 PM

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum went on CNN over the weekend, where he embarrassed host Dana Bash over the fencing around the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. The fencing was put up for the massive Fourth of July fireworks display, as it always has been.

But that wasn't the only humiliation Burgum brought down on Bash, who also questioned why Olympian David Hearn was facing a decade behind bars for vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. Leftists were legitimately angry that President Trump made repairs to the pool and even came out to protest in favor of algae. Several were busted for cutting or otherwise tearing up the sealant coating of the pool.

This includes Hearn, who is also an Olympian.

"There is an Olympian, David Hearn, who was indicted for vandalism," Bash said. "The maximum sentence is ten years in prison. He says he didn't do anything other than reach into the Reflecting Pool and look at, pull out and look at, a piece of the liner that had already been cut. Do you really think he should face a ten-year prison sentence for doing this? This is somebody who competed for America and, you know, did extremely well there and is saying he didn't do anything wrong."

So now, being an Olympic athlete is a get-out-of-jail-free card?

Interesting.

"You can be a former governor, you can be a former this, you can be a former that. But just because you were a former something doesn't exclude you from the law today," Burgum replied.

"But he says he didn't do anything to actually hurt it other than pick it up because it was already peeling," Bash interjected.

Most criminals say they didn't do anything wrong. That's what criminals do.

"He can say what he wants to say. I wasn't there, I was not an eyewitness. The courts will decide," Burgum said. "But I think the law stands, that is the law that exists, and it should be ... if people are damaging federal government property, if people are defaming our monuments, they should face the consequences of that. So the courts will decide."

This will be revealing in more ways than one.

That's true.

That's Bash's argument here.

Because they're not journalists, they're propagandists and stenographers for the DNC.

As Burgum said, the courts will hear the case and decide what happens to David Hearn. He will face justice if he vandalized the reflecting pool.

No one is above the law.