Trump said evidence of alleged vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool will be shown in court as repairs are expected to begin.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that evidence supporting his allegation that vandals cut a long slit into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool will be shown in court, intensifying his defense of a troubled renovation now marked by peeling paint and green algae.
Trump has blamed vandalism for the problems at the National Mall landmark, rather than the quality of a recent sealant and paint job. Separate reports have put the cost of the work at different figures: CBS News described it as a $14.7 million sealant job, while the BBC reported the makeover cost an estimated $13 million, or £9.8 million.
In an exchange with CBS News senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe, Trump described what he said was a large cut in the pool and said evidence would be produced later. “Yeah, at the right time you’ll see it,” Trump said when asked for proof. “You’ll see it in court.”
Trump told CBS the alleged slit was about 350 feet long, saying he had seen it and that the Parks Department or Interior Secretary Doug Burgum could show it. The BBC, citing a senior Trump administration official, reported that one of the police reports involved a person Trump claimed had used a blade to put a 250-foot gash into the pool’s facade.
CBS reported that five people have been arrested in vandalism cases related to the Reflecting Pool and that five others were issued federal citations, citing the U.S. Park Police. The BBC reported the same arrest and citation figures from a senior administration official, who said 14 police reports had been filed; the BBC said U.S. Park Police did not reply to its request to confirm the figures.
Neither the U.S. Park Service nor Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the company behind the project, has said a cut slit caused the peeling, CBS reported. CBS said it had reached out to the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior and had not received a response at the time of its report.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings told CBS there are “some areas” of the project that need repair, but said they represent “a very small part” of the seven-acre job and do not show a failure of the liner. The company said the pool would have to be drained before repairs could be made and that it would return to do the work under warranty when feasible for the park.
The president said Sunday that he had inspected the Reflecting Pool and that work would begin immediately. The BBC reported that, according to reporters traveling with Trump, his online post came as his helicopter was approaching the White House after a weekend at Camp David, and that he appeared to have viewed the pool from the air rather than during a ground visit.
The Reflecting Pool, built in the 1920s and stretching between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, has long had problems including leaks, structural deterioration, faulty pipes, algae growth and bird droppings, the BBC reported. After the recent work, visitors and media outlets documented paint peeling from the bottom of the pool as algae turned the water bright green.
Trump has also suggested, without providing evidence, that someone may have put fertilizer in the water to create the algae. A George Mason University aquatic ecology professor who sampled the water on June 16 told the BBC the green algae identified in the pool, Desmodesmus, is “absolutely harmless” to people or animals, while noting that the pool should be monitored because algae conditions can change quickly.
The next steps are expected to include repair work that may require draining the pool again, along with any court proceedings tied to the vandalism arrests and citations.
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