In a CBS morning segment, Ed O’Keefe said reporters and federal investigators still can’t find evidence for President Donald Trump’s claim that Washington, DC’s Reflecting Pool was vandalized with a knife, even as the Interior Department moves to drain and fix
On a bright morning at Washington, DC’s Reflecting Pool, Ed O’Keefe walked the length of the water feature and said what he saw didn’t match President Donald Trump’s most vivid version of the vandalism story.
“I just did a lap around the pool here. We walked the full length of it. It is mostly algae-free. You can see that American-flag blue reflecting up. The ducks are out swimming this morning and look just fine,” O’Keefe said in a CBS segment.
He acknowledged that there were more responders on the scene — “a lot more cops, National Guard, even some U.S. Marshals out here keeping tabs on things” — but he said one thing still hadn’t turned up.
“One thing we still can’t find is any evidence of a gash along the floor of the pool,” he said, adding that “the Interior Department is taking steps to drain the pool again and fix it again.”
Trump has repeatedly blamed vandals for damage to the pool, telling people that a knife cut a long gash into it. In Monday’s comments, he said someone cut a long gash in the pool’s lining and then “pulled at its edges,” while earlier he said the blade couldn’t even pierce the surface.
O’Keefe pressed on that contradiction by returning to the exact language Trump used. Trump had said, “They went in there with a knife,” and before that claimed the pool was so strong that “If you had a knife, you can’t even cut it, it’s so strong, so powerful.”
In a clip shown during the segment, Trump also asked rhetorically, “Who would think that somebody would go into a pool and take a knife and start cutting it?” O’Keefe then asked him directly in the same clip: “Do you have proof of that — that they used a knife? Do you have photos or video?”
Trump’s response in the clip leaned on length rather than documentation. O’Keefe said he asked Trump about evidence after Trump replied by referencing a “350 — I think it’s 350, not 250 — a 350-foot slit from one end to the other.”
But O’Keefe said the problem is that the footage and physical findings have not appeared. “But the reporters have been down there today looking for that slit that you mentioned, and there’s no evidence of it,” he said.
Trump, in the exchange, pointed to oversight by the parks operation: “What you have to do is go see the Parks Department?”
O’Keefe said the White House, Interior Department, and National Park Service still had not provided proof. “So we asked. But neither the White House, Interior Department, nor National Park Service has provided any more proof,” he said.
The CBS correspondent also tied the claims to the enforcement actions that have followed. “In recent days, at least five people have been arrested for vandalizing the pool,” O’Keefe said. “Another five were issued citations.”
The segment also laid out financial and timeline strain around the repairs. Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded a $14.7 million no-bid contract for the original lining. The company said the problems represent “a very small part of the massive seven-acre project” and that it plans to return to make needed repairs as part of the warranty. O’Keefe said it was not clear how long the repairs may take.
The president had hoped the pool would be renovated and fixed in time for the 4th of July holiday celebrations.
Trump has suggested that photos of the alleged gashes would be shown in court, but O’Keefe said it wasn’t clear where or when that would happen. He also noted that the Interior Department had asked for comment and proof — and that CBS said it would continue to press for it.
As O’Keefe described it, the dispute is no longer only about what was damaged. It has become a fight over what evidence exists to back up the sharpest details — specifically the claim that a knife produced a long cut across the pool’s lining. despite repeated on-site checks and a lack of documentation being provided.
Reflecting Pool Ed O’Keefe CBS Donald Trump vandalism knife claim Interior Department National Park Service National Guard U.S. Marshals Atlantic Industrial Coatings no-bid contract $14.7 million July 4
So basically no knife… just politics. I don’t get why they keep saying it like it’s proven.
Wait, they’re draining the pool again? Like at that point it’s already been fixed so many times. Also algae-free?? seems like they’re just cherry picking what you can see.
I saw a clip where Trump said the knife cut it and then pulled the edges, but if the blade couldn’t even pierce it then… maybe it was like a tiny knife?? or maybe it was something else entirely. Honestly I don’t think any of them want to admit what actually happened.
Ed O’Keefe doing a lap around the Reflecting Pool is wild lol. But reporters not finding a gash doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, like water’s weird and stuff. Next they’ll say it was “vandalism” for months and then blame it on maintenance or algae or whatever. I swear nobody can just say what’s true.