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Among the people caught up in Trump's claims of vandalism was U.S. Olympic canoeist David  Davey  Hearn. He previously told NBC News that he was arrested and detained for five hoursFriday after touching a piece of the detached coating.

He said he stopped by the pool after a bike ride  to satisfy my curiosity as a citizen of what was happening with all the algae and the peeling blue coating. 

 It was kind of stiff, stiff, but flexible, pretty rubbery. Didn't feel brittle in any way,  he said.  I didn't remove, tear, rip, break or destroy any of it. The condition of the reflecting pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there. 

Hearn said he was arrested by the National Guard but was not told what federal law he had violated. It's not clear what he has been charged with.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice, said most federal cases involve felonies rather than minor charges such as misdemeanors. He said the cases of the six people arrested could be handled differently because of the political climate.

 It's not your typical case,  he said in a phone interview on Tuesday.  The Department of Justice is doing the president's bidding. 

Rahmani said that typically, when a person is accused of a federal misdemeanor, they are issued a citation and a notice to appear in court. Misdemeanor crimes are usually punishable by up to 6 months or 1 year in jail, depending on the crime, he said. Other times, the person may be given probation and ordered to pay a fine.

He said the president's threat of 10 years in prison most likely refers to the people who were arrested.

Trump has said that to fix the pool, some of the water would have to be drained either immediately before or after the Fourth of July, when the country will celebrate 250 years of independence. Large areas of the grass around the pool are also being replaced, Trump said.

 In any event, even prior to fixing those areas, the Reflecting Pool is as beautiful as it can be,  he posted on Tuesday.

The reflecting pool has been a pet project of the president, who before renovations got underway this spring, characterized it as dilapidated and dirty and said previous presidents had neglected it. For years, algae has been an issue at the iconic D.C. site.

As part of the $14-million-plus rehabilitation project, a new liner was installed and a new coating, in a color the president has named  American flag blue,  was added.