US President Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on social media against the “vandals” he alleges are behind damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC, with arrests including a former Olympian.
Trump posted on his preferred platform, Truth Social, claiming federal officers had made “multiple arrests” of individuals he accused of vandalising the historic site.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Trump posted online: “Many additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool.
“What they have damaged does not even include the earlier killing of a large amount of grass which was, by far, the least of it. They took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete.
“They also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool”, he said, as per a report by the Express.
The US President revealed that contractors informed him on Saturday that the Reflecting Pool would require draining for restoration work, though repairs would be “done as quickly as possible”, as he attempts to justify why the USD$14-million-plus renovation scheme he initiated for the nation’s 250th anniversary has apparently gone awry. Trump’s assertions emerge as a former Olympian faces arrest for allegedly damaging the pool.
David Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist who represented the United States, informed the Washington Post that while cycling past the monument on Friday, he halted after spotting a section of the pool’s liner drifting in the water.
Hearn, 67, explained to the publication that he extended his hand and touched the loose piece of liner. Seconds later, he found himself detained by Park Police.
Viral video clips show Hearn appearing confused as National Guard members approached him. The footage then depicts police placing him in handcuffs.
“I didn’t vandalise anything,” Hearn insisted, according to The Washington Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realised what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.
“I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece. It was still attached to the bottom. I didn’t remove anything.”
View 4 ImagesAlgae is visible in the Lincoln Memorial Pool(Image: Getty)
View 4 ImagesWork Continues On The Ongoing Cleaning Of The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool(Image: Getty)
Hearn participated in the Whitewater Slalom Canoe for the US at the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympic Games.
The ex-Olympian disclosed he spent nearly five hours held at a Park Police station. His court appearance at DC Superior Court is set for 9 July.
The Olympian’s detention follows earlier statements by the US President on Friday (19 June) claiming there had been “some real problems with vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool”. “It’s a shame that the Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocats, who have spent their lives trying to ruin our Country, are free to do so,’ Trump wrote.
“Law Enforcement is actively investigating this situation, and will hopefully have it resolved soon.”
The 47th US President also turned his attack on a journalist amid the Reflecting Pool fiasco, accusing “lightweight ABC Reporter Jonathan Karl” of plunging his hand into the pool and attempting to scrape the rubber from its surface.
His outburst follows Karl’s ABC News report on Thursday, in which his team discovered the Reflecting Pool laden with muck and green algae. Karl further noted that the multi-million dollar paint job appeared to be deteriorating rapidly.
View 4 ImagesNational Park Service employees use vacuums to clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool(Image: Getty)
Earlier this month, Trump took to Truth Social to declare the Reflecting Pool restoration complete, proudly boasting that the renovation was “very complex, but powerful”.
The President also claimed that fresh water had been added to the pool, yet just weeks after Trump’s triumphant proclamation, algae turned the newly added water a nauseating shade of green. Last week, workers were spotted pouring hydrogen peroxide into the water in a bid to tackle the spreading algae.
The US Department of the Interior, the government body overseeing the project, confirmed in an official statement that “nanobubbler technology” had been installed to combat the persistent algae problem. Trump has since claimed that the algae has been reduced by 75 percent.
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The Reflecting Pool has troubled successive US administrations, as algae accumulation has regularly stopped the water from properly mirroring the memorial as intended.