Topline
President Donald Trump said work on fixing the renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool would begin “immediately,” after previously suggesting it might need to be drained again to fix the damage he says was caused by vandals—just 16 days after the government refilled it following a project that made the bottom “American Flag Blue.”
Key Facts
Trump said he inspected the damage to the Reflecting Pool, insisting it was “seriously vandalized” by “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE” without providing further specifics.
In a series of posts on Truth Social on Saturday night, Trump blamed damage to the blue material lining the Reflecting Pool on “vandals,” whom he claimed “put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade” with a knife and poured “corrosive and destructive chemicals” into the water.
The president said the government would “probably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs.”
The renovations were completed and the pool was refilled by June 5, but just days later algae made it appear a shade of green—a persistent problem in the past.
The Department of the Interior blames the return of the green hue on “residual” algae from water supply lines.
It was not immediately clear if or when the Trump administration plans to drain the pool again, and the Department of the Interior did not immediately return a request for comment from Forbes about the matter.
What Do We Know About the Vandalism Arrests?
Trump said “multiple individuals” were arrested in connection to vandalizing the Reflecting Pool, but authorities have released few details about the suspects so far. One person arrested was former Team USA Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who told the Washington Post he was arrested on Friday. The 67-year-old former Olympian said he was in the middle of a 52-mile bike ride when he stopped at the pool. Hearn denied vandalizing or removing anything, and instead claimed he just tried to touch one of the floating strips of paint in the pool. Video of his arrest was taken by an independent journalist and circulated on social media Friday. The president also shared a photo of a man at the pool wearing a homemade t-shirt that reads “Team Algae,” but provided no further context about the image.
Tangent
In one of the posts about the Reflecting Pool on Saturday, Trump lashed out at ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, whom he claimed was “seen sticking his hand into the Pool, and trying to rip the rubber off of the surface.” Karl filmed a short segment about the damaged renovations last week, which was published on ABC News’ YouTube channel. In the segment, Karl reaches out and touches a strip of paint peeling from the basin, which was floating at the top of the pool, lightly holding it for a few seconds before letting go.
