Trump administration continues to ‘attack an innocent man’ over reflecting pool, say lawyers for Olympian – live

August 2026 · 18 minute read

From

3h ago

Lawyers for Olympian whose reflecting pool vandalism charges were dropped say Trump administration continues to 'attack an innocent man'

Lawyers for David Hearn, the Olympian who was arrested for alleged property destruction of the reflecting pool before his charges were dropped, said that the Trump administration is “continuing to attack an innocent man”.

This comes after Donald Trump said that Hearn was still guilty on Truth Social this weekend, despite the justice department dismissing all charges against him, and citing the “botched” renovation of the pool as the reason for the peeling lining.

Hearn’s lawyers also said they are still “reviewing all legal remedies, including for this continued harassment”.

Key events

Meanwhile, in Charleston, South Carolina, defense secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled that the area’s main airbase has now been renamed in honor of the late Republican senator Lindsey Graham.

“It now falls to us to continue Senator Graham’s work, of building up our military, the hard work of defending this nation,” Hegseth said, while unveiling Joint Base Lindsey Graham.

The late lawmaker served for three decades in the US military, retiring with the rank of colonel.

Todd Blanche has arrived at the White House for his swearing-in ceremony.

The event is currently closed to the press, but we’ll let you know if anything changes.

RNC chair says that committee will 'support our nominees', avoids calling on Max Miller to end re-election bid

Joe Gruters, the Republican National Committee (RNC) chair, avoided calling on Max Miller – the embattled Ohio congressman facing a wave of domestic abuse allegations and pressure to resign – to end his re-election bid.

“I always tell people that there’s not many things worse than divorce,” Gruters said in an interview with NewsNation. “Nobody’s a winner.”

A reminder that Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, is the daughter of Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, also a Republican. Many of the accusations against Miller came out through the custody battle court filings for their two-year-old daughter.

Gruters added that the RNC “will support our nominees”. Despite the many calls for Miller to abandon his campaign for his seat that is a GOP stronghold, the incumbent did not withdraw by the deadline needed for Ohio Republicans to select a replacement nominee.

“We need to make sure we hold the majorities. Max, I’m sure, is on that side,” Gruters said. “Everybody has to prove that they’re capable of winning, and then we’re gonna look at our resources and make the decisions. I can’t tell you right now … I hope that he can. We hope we can hold that seat in Ohio. It’s an important seat, but we’re going to be watching that race very carefully.”

Ahead of Todd Blanche’s formal swearing-in today, the NAACP has said that the new attorney general earned his job “by defending Donald Trump”.

“His record is clear: he’s attacked voting rights, abandoned civil rights enforcement, targeted Trump’s political enemies, and he’s looked the other way when civil rights are threatened,” said NAACP president Derrick Johnson. “The Department of Justice should be the guardian of justice, not a shield for political corruption. Once again, this Senate has let us down.”

A reminder that Blanche secured his confirmation last week, after Republican Senator Bill Cassidy cast a deciding vote and saved his nomination.

Trump says he will demand conflict compensation from Iran

Donald Trump has said he is “demanding compensation from Iran” in future talks after Tehran tied compensation for the damage caused by the war launched by the US and Israel at the end of February to the reopening of the strategic strait of Hormuz.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the matter of compensation “was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings”, but Tehran has been demanding war damages from Washington since the early weeks of the war.

In April, Tehran demanded compensation after US-Israeli attacks wrought an estimated $270bn worth of destruction, and said the issue had been discussed in talks with Washington in Pakistan. That figure was later revised up to $400bn, but the two sides later settled on a $300bn investment fund and other measures to support Iran’s economic recovery. Trump has insisted that American taxpayer dollars will not fund that project, instead it will be funded by private investment, including from the Gulf states.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi toughened Tehran’s demands over the weekend, declaring that the reopening of the strait of Hormuz is conditional on the US agreeing to a long list of demands, including paying Tehran financial compensation.

Here’s Trump’s full Truth Social post:

double quotation markI see that Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran are asking for compensation for the damage done to them during the last five month Military Conflict (started because, THEY WILL NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON), even though it was never mentioned in any of our negotiations or meetings! But it is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts, for which they are famous, as led initially by General Soleimani, including the families of those killed on the USS Cole, and thousands of others killed in combat. Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months. I have instructed my representatives to put this firmly into any, and all, future negotiations.

Donald Trump names White House staff secretary Will Scharf to become White House counsel

Donald Trump has named White House staff secretary Will Scharf to become White ​House counsel and assistant to the president, replacing David Warrington, who is taking a job in the private sector.

In taking up that role, Scharf will become the White House’s top lawyer after overseeing the administrative work of the Oval Office in his current position. Trump also appointed him chair of the National Capital Planning Commission last year, where he helped secure approval for the $400m for the White House ballroom project.

He served as the general counsel of Trump’s 2024 campaign and also previously represented Trump in a number of criminal and civil legal cases in between his two terms in office, including the presidential immunity case at the supreme court.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social last night, saying Scharf would start on 1 September. “I know Will well! He previously represented me in numerous cases, including at the Supreme Court, during the Biden Administration’s corrupt and illegal campaign of Weaponization,” the president wrote.

He added: “Will is Tough, Strong, and Smart! He also loves our Country, and respects the Law. Will Scharf will do a great job as White House Counsel!”

Lawyers for Olympian whose reflecting pool vandalism charges were dropped say Trump administration continues to 'attack an innocent man'

Lawyers for David Hearn, the Olympian who was arrested for alleged property destruction of the reflecting pool before his charges were dropped, said that the Trump administration is “continuing to attack an innocent man”.

This comes after Donald Trump said that Hearn was still guilty on Truth Social this weekend, despite the justice department dismissing all charges against him, and citing the “botched” renovation of the pool as the reason for the peeling lining.

Hearn’s lawyers also said they are still “reviewing all legal remedies, including for this continued harassment”.

José Olivares

A Kurdish man who was force-fed over the course of eight months while on hunger strike in US immigration detention has spoken out about it for the first time, describing how much the process harmed him physically and psychologically.

Gabar Choli, a film-maker and activist now living in Canada after being deported, described how he endured the coercive treatment – a practice widely considered torture by international human rights groups – often twice a day after being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when his asylum application was denied.

“It just broke me, mentally broke me,” Choli said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. “It came to a point that I decided to write my body an apology letter.”

ICE officials force-fed Choli at the Port Isabel federal detention center in Los Fresnos, south Texas, from late May 2025 until he was deported in January of this year, a Guardian investigation found. Choli had resorted to a hunger strike to protest against conditions at the facility and to push for a resolution to his immigration case.

He described how a team of detention center guards would physically restrain him while ICE medical staff forcibly inserted a feeding tube through his nose and down his esophagus and pumped nutritional liquid into his stomach.

An investigation by the Guardian last week found that the second Trump administration used court orders in plans to subject at least 10 hunger strikers in ICE detention to involuntary medical procedures.

Wisconsin is not the only state with high stakes primary races on 11 August.

We’ll also be bringing you the latest on a number of pivotal contests. In Minnesota, the closely watched and crowded Democratic primary for US Senate seems to be a competition between lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan and congresswoman Angie Craig.

Meanwhile in the state’s gubernatorial race – the Republican primary is shaping up to be a three-way competition between Trump ally and fervent election denier Mike Lindell, businessman Kendall Qualls and Minnesota House speaker Lisa Demuth. On the Democratic side, four-term US senator Amy Klobuchar is the frontrunner hoping to succeed outgoing governor Tim Walz.

There are also primaries in Alabama, Vermont and Connecticut on Tuesday. And we’ll be covering the special Republican primary to replace the late Senator Lindsey Graham on the general election ballot.

As Francesca Hong surged ahead in the final weeks of the chaotic Democratic primary to be Wisconsin’s next governor, the democratic socialist has become the internet’s main character.

Donald Trump has mocked her old tweets, while major figures in her own party publicly questioned her ability to win a general election. The man she is vying to succeed even launched a late blitz in support of one of her rivals.

But on the ground in Wisconsin, the enthusiasm for her shines through.

In hundreds of events across Wisconsin – from karaoke nights to ramen pop-ups – Hong, 37, built a grassroots army that pushed her to the verge of clinching the Democratic nomination for governor in a marquee battleground state.

After the progressive Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic primary for US Senate in next-door Michigan last week, scrutiny of Hong intensified. In Wisconsin, Democrats face another test of whether voters in a swing state will side with leftwing candidates in primaries – and what that could mean for the party’s chances in a typically close general election in November.

Hong – a chef and former restaurant owner, a single mom and a state lawmaker from Madison – is running on a progressive platform that includes universal childcare and fully funding the state’s public schools. She is also calling for a moratorium on datacenters, a centerpiece that differentiates her from the other Democratic candidates.

“I got into this race because I know that we can win and that Wisconsinites are going to fight for one another and fight to be a part of the change,” she told the Guardian, “because they’re tired of people making decisions that don’t improve lives and they’re tired of the status quo.”

Four candidates are vying for the open governor’s seat on Tuesday, with most polls showing Hong in the lead. Kelda Roys, a state senator, and Joel Brennan, a former head of the state administration department, are still in the race. David Crowley, the Milwaukee county executive, exited the race and then re-entered it – receiving the endorsement of the outgoing Democratic governor, Tony Evers.

A memo from the Crowley campaign on 5 August suggested polling may be off, pointing to Michigan polls showing El-Sayed with a much broader lead than he actually achieved. Evers recently claimed Hong’s campaign was “in a tough place”, because she had to spend time dealing with “what’s on the Twitter”.

Reach Rachel’s full dispatch from Milwaukee, Wisconsin here:

Trump says 'some contractor error' in reflecting pool renovation while still blaming former Olympian for vandalism

Donald Trump appeared to acknowledge that “some contractor error” done by rushing the reflecting pool renovation job for a 4 July opening. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the mishandled work “was a very small area” of the pool of “and was relatively inconsequential”.

However, Trump also continued to insist that former Olympian David Hearn was guilty of vandalism, despite the justice department dismissing the property destruction charges against him for having touched a chunk of the reflecting pool’s newly peeled lining.

In a Truth Social post, the president cited a line from a court filing that notes that a national parks employee saw Hearn “ripping and tugging at the Pool’s somewhat delicate coating”. However, Jeanine Pirro – the US attorney for the District of Columbia – dropped the charges against Hearn last week.

In a 20-page court filing, Pirro’s office wrote that the damage to the concrete-bottomed tourist attraction was the result of a “botched” renovation – “not vandalism”.

Trump has since decried Pirro’s decision, claiming his longtime ally and former Fox News host “folded like an umbrella”.

“She made a terrible mistake. I don’t understand why she did such a stupid thing,” the president told NBC News last week.

On Tuesday, Republican voters in South Carolina will have the opportunity to re-select their GOP nominee for the Senate race this November.

This comes after the death of long-serving Senator Lindsey Graham last month. Graham had won the Republican nomination for the Senate seat he had held for 23 years. His sister, Darline Graham, was appointed to finish the final months of his term and is running to take his place as the GOP nominee. She’s also received Trump’s endorsement.

Tuesday’s special primary is already a crowded race, and Darline Graham will have to face off against nine other candidates, including congressmen Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford and businessman Mark Lynch.

Victoria Bekiempis

Over the weekend, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced she is going to freeze her eggs and will be sharing the process online.

The progressive New York congresswoman, 36, revealed her decision to undergo fertility treatment in a series of Instagram stories this weekend. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Ocasio-Cortez said she had been saving for the procedure for a very long time, and said there was not a lot of information for women interested in doing so.

“As women in general, we are not taught about our bodies, we are not prepared for our own lives, whether that is in puberty, whether that is in pregnancy, whether that is in perimenopause, menopause, whether that is in so many different aspects of our lives,” she said in one of the stories.

Ocasio-Cortez recognized the balancing act that comes with undergoing fertility treatment with her work as a congresswoman. Ocasio-Cortez told viewers that she would be taking her shots in the dressing room before a scheduled ABC interview on Sunday.

Trump will be in Washington today, mostly in private meetings.

As of now Todd Blanche’s swearing-in ceremony and an executive order signing at 2.45pm ET are both closed to the press, but we’ll let you know if that changes and bring you the latest lines.

Trump to swear in Todd Blanche as attorney general

Donald Trump is set to formally swear in Todd Blanche as his new attorney general at 2pm ET in the Oval Office.

This comes after the Senate officially confirmed Blanche before lawmakers left for August recess.

Trump’s pick to lead the justice department received a lifeline from Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who cast a deciding vote, after two moderate GOP lawmakers – Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins – voted no on Blanche’s nomination.

Trump officials offer cities tens of millions for Memphis-style police surges – with conditions

George Chidi

George Chidi

The Trump administration is offering grants of tens of millions of dollars to cities across the US to create more Memphis-style enforcement surges – on the condition that they abandon progressive ideologies on policing.

The US Department of Justice says it will announce up to four finalist cities which will split $300m in grant funding under a federal “Model Cities” policing initiative (MCI) next month, setting the stage for some of the largest federal policing grants ever awarded to individual US cities.

In exchange for the funding, cities are required to comply with federal immigration enforcement requests, enact conservative policies on anti-homelessness rules, and potentially repay millions of dollars in the event of a surge in violent crime or “civil unrest”, according to a grant document.

The document cites Washington DC and Memphis, Tennessee – two cities with national guard troops patrolling the streets – as a model to emulate. The administration has so far defied calls to suspend its controversial taskforce in Memphis, following four officer-involved deaths since its launch last September.

“That’s not a model I’d be looking for,” said Steven Reed, the mayor of Montgomery, Alabama. Reed said he had seen the grant and passed on applying. “Everybody wants a quick fix, and no one wants to invest in the root cause of the issue,” he said.

Trump appoints staff secretary Will Scharf as new White House counsel

Donald Trump announced on Sunday that ⁠Will ​Scharf, the staff secretary who helped secure approval for the $400m White House ballroom project, will become ⁠White House counsel and assistant to the president.

Effective 1 September, Scharf will replace David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the private sector. Warrington ​formerly served ​as a ​personal counsel and a ​lawyer ‌for Trump’s ​2024 campaign.

Trump noted that Scharf previously served as a federal prosecutor and represented him in a number of cases, including at the supreme court. Scharf also led the National ‌Capital Planning Commission, which approved the president’s construction ​of the White House ballroom.

“Will is Tough, Strong, and Smart! He also loves our Country, and respects the Law,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Will Scharf will do a great job as White House Counsel!”

The shakeup in the White House counsel’s office comes at a critical juncture – just months ahead of the midterm elections, where Trump’s Republican party will be fighting to hold on to control of Congress.

Max Miller remains on ballot after missing resignation deadline

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

Max Miller, the beleaguered US Republican representative from Ohio, will remain on the ballot paper for November after missing the final opportunity to resign as a candidate.

He vowed last week to defy a rising groundswell of resignation calls from his own party over domestic abuse allegations after his ex-father-in-law, Bernie Moreno, a GOP senator, said he was unfit to serve in Congress. The deadline has now passed for Miller to step down and allow the GOP to find a replacement in time.

“If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them,” Moreno, an ally of Trump, posted on Sunday. “He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

Addressing reporters on Tuesday, Moreno described the dispute between his daughter and Miller as “truly the seventh level of hell”, adding: “This has been a horrific experience for my entire family.

“This has been brutal beyond comprehension, and if there’s any minimum standard for being an elected official, as I said, he fails to meet that minimum basic standard.”

Miller’s ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of the Republican Ohio senator Bernie Moreno, has accused Miller of pointing a gun at her head, pouring hot water on her and potentially breaking their two-year-old daughter’s collarbone.

Emily Moreno has also alleged Miller physically attacked her attorney and another legal representative, and filed for a restraining order on her lawyer’s behalf. Emily Moreno and Miller are now locked in a bitter custody battle.

In other developments: