President Donald Trump remained adamant that problems with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool post-renovation were due to vandals and not the construction team that was given a no-bid contract for the project.
Trump and his White House aides have attributed the new coat of “American flag blue” paint peeling to a 300-foot “gash” on the bottom of the pool, saying, despite already spending $14 million on the renovation project, “we’ll probably have to let the water out” and “fix it.”
“They went in there with a knife,” Trump told reporters on Monday, adding, “probably a box cutter.”
“Five people [have been] arrested, and five people are under investigation right now, and it’s a sad thing,” Trump said of the purported vandals.
Trump, who was repeatedly pressed for proof, suggested that photos of the vandalism could be made public as part of court proceedings.
“You’ve got to go see the Parks Department, they’ll show it to you, or see the secretary,” he said. “I saw it, they cut it, they cut it very violently.”
Trump also apportioned responsibility elsewhere for the algae that emerged since the renovation was unveiled earlier this month.
“If you put fertilizer in the water, you get algae,” he said. “They did something to create the algae, but that doesn’t matter because that’s been purified. It’s dead, laying at the bottom. They’re taking it out, they vacuum it out, they vacuum it very carefully out, and it’ll be back to health pretty soon.”
Earlier Monday, Trump pledged to prosecute vandals who allegedly damaged the Reflecting Pool to the fullest extent of the law.
“Of the MANY Statues and Fountains that we rebuilt, renovated, cleaned, and fixed, the only one that was Vandalized was the Reflecting Pool, which is being taken care of, ASAP!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “It has been given a 300 foot long gash, chemicals have been illegally placed in the water, and the beautiful new grass field has been destroyed with a gigantic 86 47 chemically carved into it.”
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS DESCEND ON REFLECTING POOL AFTER TRUMP CLAIMS VANDALISM
The president underscored a 10-year prison sentence for “the destruction, or even the attempted destruction,” promising that it “will be fully enforced.”
Three-time U.S. Olympian David Hearn was charged with damaging government property on Friday after he allegedly touched a piece of blue coating that had detached from the bottom of the Reflecting Pool.