Trump says Park Police arrested vandals of reflecting pool

Trump says – President Trump said late Saturday that United States Park Police have arrested multiple people over alleged sabotage of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which was recently renovated. He also said the pool will be drained and repaired again, describing da

Late Saturday evening, President Trump posted a message on Truth Social that landed like a public verdict before the public had any official confirmations.

“The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Pool,” he wrote. “These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair.”

In a second post later Saturday, Trump said more arrests had followed. He did not provide evidence for his claims about what happened to the pool, and neither the Park Police nor any other law enforcement agency had publicly confirmed any arrests by the time this account was published.

The new claims arrive as the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool—an American landmark that underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation earlier this year—has become a focus of controversy about both the nature of the damage and the cost of repairing it.

Trump’s account was detailed and forceful. He said the pool was vandalized in ways that went beyond ordinary wear and tear. “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. ” he wrote. He also said “They also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool.”.

He connected those allegations to another development from last week: the pool turning green. Trump again offered the claim without providing evidence, pointing to the discoloration as part of what he described as the sabotage.

That green tint, however, was tied by aquatic ecologists and pool specialists to algae. The pool turned green last week after being refilled following the renovation. in which its floor was repainted in a shade Trump has called “American flag blue.” Aquatic ecologists and pool specialists told NPR the discoloration was caused by a natural bloom of algae from the genus Desmodesmus—an expected process in shallow. sun-exposed water that may have been accelerated by the renovation disturbing the nutrient balance of the water. A George Mason University professor who took water samples confirmed the algae was not toxic.

For all the certainty in Trump’s language about deliberate destruction. the public record at the time of publication contained no published corroboration from law enforcement. and the White House had provided no evidence that vandalism caused the pool’s discoloration or the structural damage Trump described.

Trump also said repairs would move quickly, and described a plan that would require more disruption to the landmark. “We met with contractors today. will probably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs. ” he wrote. He framed the alleged vandalism as an affront to American history: “What these terrible Vandals have done is a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. and should be dealt with accordingly”.

The president’s remarks came alongside a specific case already in the system. On Friday, Maryland resident and former Olympian David Hearn was arrested and charged with destroying government property. Hearn said he merely reached into the pool to touch one of the already dislodged blue pieces. and denies the charge.

The uproar around the reflecting pool has been building since even before the green water. In April. Trump revealed plans for the pool to be made “American flag blue” in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. Trump also posted a fake image of himself and several of his administration officials in swimsuits. along with an unidentified woman in a bikini lounging in the water.

Trump later defended the work in his Saturday post, writing: “The Reflecting Pool was never so beautiful as it was just one week ago, even going back to 1922 when it opened.” The pool opened in 1923.

The renovation’s scope and spending also became a matter of record and dispute. The project expanded significantly beyond an initial public cost estimate of $2 million. to more than $14 million by the time work was completed. A Virginia-based contractor received the no-bid contract. A separate Ohio-based company was paid approximately $1.7 million for nanobubble ozone technology deployed to treat the algae bloom.

The renovation, too, became the target of legal action. The project was the subject of a lawsuit filed in May by the Cultural Landscape Foundation. a nonprofit that argued the administration had bypassed required historic preservation reviews. A federal judge had not yet ruled on the case by the time the administration notified the court that work had been completed.

At the heart of Saturday’s new claims was a clash of narratives: Trump’s insistence that deliberate sabotage caused both a discolored pool and structural damage. versus the scientific and operational explanations already offered for the algae bloom—and the absence of publicly provided evidence connecting vandalism to the discoloration.

With Trump saying work would begin immediately on repairs and that contractors would likely need to release and drain much of the water. the reflecting pool’s future is now tied to what investigators can substantiate—and what officials can show as the public watches another round of disruption unfold at a national landmark.

Trump Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool United States Park Police vandalism Truth Social David Hearn renovation American flag blue Desmodesmus algae nanobubble ozone technology Cultural Landscape Foundation lawsuit