Reflecting pool to be drained again as Trump claims five vandalism arrests | Washington DC
The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool will be drained again after Donald Trump said Monday (without providing evidence) that five people had been arrested for vandalism and that another five were under investigation in connection with algae growth and peeling paint that emerged weeks after the ill-fated $14 million renovation attempt.
“There’s not a lot of damage, but we’ll probably have to drain the water and fix it again. They got in there with a knife,” Trump told reporters, describing how there was initially a 290- to 300-foot gash in the paint, but it was later changed to a 350-foot gash. He also said someone put fertilizer in the water, which caused algae to grow.
Journalists who visited the pool on Sunday saw no evidence of such damage. The Washington Post reported.
The newspaper is also interviewed Three-time Olympic cyclist David Hearn said he was arrested on misdemeanor charges by U.S. park police after he stopped next to the renovated pool and touched one of the peeling paint liner out of curiosity.
Trump attempted to turn the “American flag” monument blue in keeping with the country’s 250th birthday; this included painting the bottom of the pool a deep navy blue hue officially called “Old Glory Blue.”
He signed a no-tender contract with a company he said had previously done work on the swimming pools of one of his golf clubs, and a few days after the work was completed, the water began to look green due to algae disturbing the stagnant water, and the paint coating applied during the renovation also began to peel off.
On Monday, Trump was adamant that “vandals” were responsible for the algae bloom and peeling paint, not the pool company. When asked to provide evidence of his claims, he told reporters to call the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service. Neither the agency nor the U.S. park police immediately responded to a request for comment.
When asked how the alleged vandals were able to get so close to one of Washington, D.C.’s most historically symbolic tourist attractions, where there was a heavy police presence, Trump replied, “We didn’t have a lot of police” at the time.
“Who would have thought that someone would walk into the pool, grab a knife and start cutting?” he asked.
It’s unclear when the pool will be drained, but a spokesperson for the D.C. Water Authority said the agency has granted the national parks service a temporary permit to discharge the water into sewers that flow to a local treatment plant. The spokesperson said the permit was granted on June 16 and will expire on July 2.
Trump previously posted on social media that “there is a 10-year prison sentence for destroying or even attempting to destroy these things, and that will be fully enforced!”
Destruction of federal property can carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
