President Donald Trump has asserted that vandalism caused recent issues with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, offering explanations that have drawn scrutiny. Speaking to reporters, Trump claimed that individuals used knives to inflict damage, describing a "slit" in the pool.
"We have 100, and we have a, I think, 290, 300-foot slit right through it, probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind. We had people lifting up the basic, some of the bays. It’s not a lot of damage, but we’ll probably have to let the water out and re-fix it," Trump stated. He added that the National Park Service had arrested five individuals and had five more under investigation, though he questioned the likelihood of such damage occurring with the National Guard present. When pressed for proof of knife use, Trump pointed to the described length of the "slit."
Trump also attributed algae blooms in the pool to vandalism, suggesting that fertilizer may have been intentionally added to the water. "They put, somebody said, fertilizer in the water. If you put fertilizer in the water, you get algae, but somebody said they might have put fertilizer. They did something to create the algae, but that doesn’t matter because that’s been purified. It’s dead, laying at the bottom," he said.
The president also addressed the cost of the Reflecting Pool's renovations, which have been reported at $14 million. He contrasted this with a renovation project during the Obama administration, claiming it cost over $100 million and was unsuccessful. An Associated Press analysis, however, found that the Obama-era renovation, completed in 2012, cost $34 million.
National Park Service employees were observed cleaning the Reflecting Pool in mid-June. Members of the National Park Service use a vacuum-like device to remove algae from the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19.
