President Donald Trump has said that the “vandals” and “sleazebags” he alleges ruined his $16 million makeover of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “should pay a big price for the damage done.”
Offering an update on the ongoing repair work on Truth Social late Monday, the president wrote: “We drained the beautiful ‘Reflecting Pool’ today in order to fix the scars and damage that was done by the Vandals two weeks ago.
“We wanted to wait until after the July 4th Weekend. The slashes were 300 yards long, and the floor of the pool was cut and then pulled upward, with great force, by these thugs.
“The Parks Department had to empty the water in order to fix the water tight basin. It will be refilled and put back into service soon. These Country hating sleazebags should pay a big price for the damage done.”
Trump’s “beautification” of the pool became a fiasco last month after its new “American Flag Blue” sealant began to peel away from the bottom as soon as it was refilled after cleaning, a problem exacerbated by the emergence of algae blooms shortly after turning the water a lurid green color.
The president blamed the problems on Democrat-aligned saboteurs who he claimed had cut a long gash in the base of the pool using a “box cutter or knife,” despite journalists including The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg and former CNN anchor Jim Acosta visiting the site and reporting no sign of it.
Trump also speculated that the bad actors might have poured fertilizer into the water to encourage the growth of the algae, which he described in one angry post as “criminally made.”
Six people were ultimately arrested as Trump testily reminded the public that the penalty for destruction of government property is prison.
Court documents later revealed that the National Park Service reported a June 9 incident to the U.S. Park Police involving a blade being used to cut into the pool’s new lining.
Last Thursday, former Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty in D.C. Superior Court to deliberately damaging the monument after being arrested at the water’s edge.
Hearn stated that he had reached into the pool to examine the peeled sealant and immediately released a chunk of it when instructed to do so by a park employee.
His attorneys and other critics of the Trump administration have denounced the case as an abuse of prosecutorial power, arguing that Hearn is being scapegoated when the real explanation for the calamity lies in the low quality of the repair work carried out, which saw no-bid contracts handed out with little scrutiny.
Online court records indicate that at least three other individuals have been charged with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the pool. All three entered not guilty pleas during their initial court appearances last Wednesday.
The Reflecting Pool remained closed for Trump’s semiquincentennial celebrations over the Fourth of July weekend, much to the president’s annoyance.
It has since had to be drained again as part of the latest round of repairs, which has seen fences erected around the landmark and security heightened to ensure no further repeat of the problems.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have meanwhile demanded answers about how the situation ever came to pass, with Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal calling the whole saga “a testament to incompetence.”
Read MoreEarthquake aid keeps flowing from Florida to Venezuela, with help from the U.S. State Department
Epstein survivors urge Senate to block Trump’s AG pick over botched release of files
China puts American scientist on trial after North Korea nuclear research
