US President Donald Trump on Sunday alleged that "vandals" were responsible for the deterioration of Washington's landmark Reflecting Pool, which has seen material peeling from the floor just days after the completion of a multi-million-dollar renovation project ordered by Trump.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that "terrible vandals" had "poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool," suggesting that this had caused the material to become loose.
The issue first became known on Friday and involves paint applied to the bottom of the pool to give the water a blue appearance, according to media reports. The exact cause of the problem was not immediately clear.
The Reflecting Pool is one of Washington's most iconic landmarks. The roughly 600-metre-long pool stretches between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, serving as the backdrop for civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.
Trump recently had the landmark renovated at a cost of about $14.2 million. As part of the project, the pool floor was coated in a dark blue finish that Trump has described as "American flag blue."
The makeover had already run into difficulties when huge algae blooms turned the water green. Park employees added hydrogen peroxide to the water this week in an attempt to combat the algae.
