The president said Sunday that another round of repairs on the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool will begin “immediately.”
Read more Iran’s challenges at World Cup swirl outside draw with Belgium
President Donald Trump said Sunday that another round of repairs on the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool will begin “immediately” as he continued blaming vandals for damage to the iconic basin, after a resurgence of algae and then peeling paint followed his controversial $14 million renovation.
Trump’s announcement came after a range of law enforcement agencies spent the holiday weekend patrolling near the pool and issuing at least a handful of charges and citations to people allegedly seen interacting with the “American Flag Blue” chunks of paint. The paint could be seen peeling from the newly refurbished lining last week with some pieces floating in the water as workers treated algae. The Interior Department has not responded to questions about why the pool surface was separating.
As of Saturday night, five people had been arrested and accused of vandalism, according to an administration official. The official said that as of that time, five others had been issued federal citations. The Washington Post observed another citation issued on Sunday.
The circumstances of all the cases were not clear, but one person charged told The Post he touched the peeling paint but did not cause damage. Another was heard telling officers she pulled a piece of floating paint out of the water.
Park Police on Sunday did not respond to questions about the total number of actions taken or the precise allegations.
On Sunday, officers — including Park Police, U.S. Marshals and sheriff’s deputies from a host of states — were a constant presence at the tourist attraction, both on foot and on horseback, as bikers sped down the park’s paths and runners zigzagged around tourists. They kept watch over curious onlookers, some of whom said they had come by to stare at the pool — not to catch their own reflection, but to peek at the chunks of deep blue paint.
Around 1:30 p.m. Sunday, a Post reporter witnessed a Park Police officer on horseback hand a young man a citation for allegedly pulling something off the water. “You’re not going to jail today because you seem cooperative,” the officer told the man, who was at the park with his family. The family declined to comment or identify themselves afterward. The officer declined to specify the charge to The Post.
The day before, a Post reporter in the area witnessed a U.S. Marshal detain a woman for taking a piece of paint out of the pool, accusing her of vandalism. The woman was heard telling the officer the floating paint appeared to be litter.
Trump had touted the six-week project to refurbish the pool as a solution to years-long leaking issues. The effort is part of his initiative to beautify Washington as the administration plans events to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding.
But problems quickly surfaced as the Reflecting Pool within days experienced one of the biggest recorded algae blooms in years. The Interior Department said last week that it was treating the pool with hydrogen peroxide and “high-tech nanobubble ozone technology” to effectively cut off the algae’s food supply. Soon after, the peeling paint drew national attention in the wake of the renovation that Trump had previously said would result in clean water and “could last for 100 years.”
The president on Saturday night, 16 days after the government began refilling the pool after the renovation, said it would likely need to be drained again and blamed “disgraceful Vandalism” for damage, including accusations that saboteurs poured corrosive chemicals into the pool and “took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade.” The official said 14 police reports had been filed for vandalism, including for a crime relating to a gash of that size.
The Post could not immediately verify Trump’s allegations, and reporters at the pool Sunday could not spot a gash fitting that description. At least eight officers patrolling the site, when asked about Trump’s allegation, could not point it out.
Sara Bronin, a law professor at George Washington University who specializes in historic preservation and property law, said that for those charged, the government would have to prove in court that the person caused or intended to cause damage.
“One key question is, did they willfully damage a property?” Bronin said. “The second one is, you know, did they actually damage it? or did they have the reasonably foreseeable likelihood of damaging it?”
One of the people arrested, cyclist and former U.S. Olympian David Hearn, now faces a destruction of property charge. Park Police patrolling the Lincoln Memorial area on Friday afternoon observed an individual peeling paint from the pool, a spokesperson for the department said via email.
In an interview with The Post, Hearn said he stopped at the pool on a Friday bike ride and reached in to feel a piece of the new liner that was partially detached from the pool bottom. He said he did not damage anything. “I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn said. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.” A conservative journalist posted on X that Hearn grabbed a hose a worker was using to clear algae. Hearn told The Post he never touched the hose, though he acknowledged his bike tire might have.
Read more A big moment for a tiny island: Cape Verde gets 1st World Cup goal
Two other people detained on the charge of destruction of public property at the pool in recent days declined to comment on the record, noting that they’re still seeking legal representation.
Bronin, the GWU law professor and a former chair of the the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal agency charged with preserving historic sites, also said law enforcement at the reflecting pool can’t detain people just for touching the water.
“The pool is part of the public infrastructure of the National Mall, just like everything else on the mall,” Bronin said. “The idea that people can’t even engage with it is just a bizarre notion and distortion of what the National Mall represents. It’s there to be engaged, felt, and experienced.”
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said that “anyone who is in a position of vandalizing or attempting to vandalize the Reflecting Pool will face the criminal justice system in D.C.”
“There are several citations that have been handed out to individuals, and these are cases that will be prosecuted to the full extent,” she said.
“If there are more serious products that are put into the Reflecting Pool to create more algae or a bigger problem, then we’ll consider more serious charges,” Pirro said.
On Sunday, Trump said on social media that he had “inspected” the pool and that “work will begin immediately.” The president appeared to have taken an aerial lap over the pool aboard Marine One.
Steve Goodale, a swimming-pool expert who viewed footage of the peeled sheet of paint on Thursday, previously told The Post that he believes the pool’s surface may have been improperly prepared for treatment. He said another reason for the peeling paint may be groundwater or pool water seeping underneath the lining.
As crowds started to pick up around mid-Sunday, tourists lined the pool’s edge and discussed the oscillating green tint while taking photographs.
“It’s a bit of an attraction,” said Maria Schmidt, who was visiting from Ohio. “I wasn’t expecting more people at the pool than the [Lincoln] Memorial, but here we are.”
One runner found a chipped piece of the pool’s paint in the grass, and others looked for bits and pieces on the north bank. Some pool visitors struck conversations with the National Park Service workers and National Guard members patrolling the monument. The troops reminded visitors to avoid touching the water.
Later in the afternoon, the atmosphere was subdued. Tourists strolled along the paths leading toward the Lincoln Memorial. The clusters of National Guard and law enforcement on patrol mostly stuck to the shade to escape the sweltering sun.
A small group of activists who called themselves “Team Algae” — including a member dressed as a purple frog — took up position in front of the Lincoln Memorial, cheering on the algae as a symbol of resistance to the Trump administration.
Jon and Shelly Wiseman, a retired couple who walked down to the reflecting pool from their home in Northwest Washington, called the paint job “basically a vanity project” for the president.
“It feels seriously out of control, and it feels as though there’s not much to do from our end to make a difference,” Shelly Wiseman, 75, said. “I feel really powerless.”
Read more Gonzalez and Reynolds homer as the Pirates hold off the Rockies 8-6
Aaron Schaffer, Meagan Flynn and David J. Lynch contributed to this report.
