'Vandals' and threats of up to 10 years in prison: Trump shifts blame for failure of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed vandals for the failure of his project to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, the park surrounded by the capital’s main monuments. His ill‑fated plan to turn the pool stretching between the imposing Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument into a blue, flag‑style mirror reflecting the iconic landmarks ended up as a murky pond, where ducks navigate through green algae and flakes of paint peeling from the bottom. Several people were arrested over the weekend, while others were issued summonses for allegedly vandalizing the pool

“Of the MANY Statues and Fountains that we rebuilt, renovated, cleaned, and fixed, the only one that was Vandalized was the Reflecting Pool, which is being taken care of, ASAP!” Trump posted on his social network Truth Social on Monday. He added a warning: “Please remember that there is a 10 year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things — Which will be fully enforced!”

Trump is not known for admitting failure. The fact that the pool — intended to become one of the most photographed backdrops of the celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence — has turned into a fiasco and a subject of mockery has not gone down well.

Over the weekend, officers from several law‑enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Park Police and U.S. Marshals, monitored visitors peering into the botched pool as if it were a tourist attraction. At least five people were arrested and several others were issued summonses. Accused of vandalism for allegedly chipping away at the pool’s paint, some of them told local media they had merely picked up pieces floating on the surface.

Some people were seen picking up flakes of the deep blue paint as if they were souvenirs, while others argued they were simply trying to remove debris floating up from the bottom of the pool.

One of those arrested, cyclist and former U.S. Olympic athlete David Hearn, now faces a charge of property damage, according to The Washington Post. Park Police officers patrolling the Lincoln Memorial area on Friday afternoon saw an individual peeling paint from the pool, a department spokesman said by email.

In an interview with The Post, Hearn said he stopped by the pool during a bike ride on Friday and reached out to touch a piece of the new liner that was partially detached from the bottom. He said he did not cause any damage. “I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told the newspaper. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”

The renovation of the Reflecting Pool, which Trump had proudly announced as part of his effort to “beautify” the nation’s capital ahead of the Fourth of July celebrations, was controversial from the outset. The administration awarded the contract directly to a company that, according to Trump, had previously worked on the swimming pools at one of his golf clubs, bypassing standard bidding rules. The project cost $14 million and was completed in six weeks, in time to serve as the postcard image the president had envisioned. The blue coloring of the pool’s base was meant to evoke the U.S. flag, with the surrounding monuments reflected on its glassy surface.

On June 3, Trump announced that the renovation was complete. “This will be the first time since the day it was built, 1922, that it has worked, and worked wonderfully, indeed!” he posted on Truth Social.

A few days later, the buildup of algae turned the water green, and the president quickly blamed what he called “disgraceful vandalism,” claiming that corrosive chemicals had been poured in, leading to the worst proliferation of aquatic plants in years. Trump also said that saboteurs had breached the structure’s surface, although this has not been verified.

Experts, however, have pointed out that the renovation failed to address longstanding issues with the pool, such as broken pipes and leaks. Instead, temporary fixes were applied, including the addition of hydrogen peroxide to the water in an attempt to eliminate the algae. The flaking of the blue paint, which in some areas has exposed the underlying concrete, may also be due to improper waterproofing, allowing the underlying problems to persist beneath the lining.

For now, the renovation of the pool — measuring roughly 620 meters in length and about 50 meters in width — appears far from guaranteeing crystal-clear waters for a hundred years, as Trump had promised. Yet, in a way, it has become a postcard image after all. Tourists flock to photograph it, not because it reflects the historic monuments symbolizing the country’s greatness, but because of the turbulent waters that mar the image of the capital’s most symbolic area.

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