{"id":8469,"date":"2026-08-01T18:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T18:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8469"},"modified":"2026-08-01T18:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T18:05:21","slug":"trump-insists-vandals-damaged-reflecting-pool-blasts-doj-for-dropped-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8469","title":{"rendered":"Trump insists vandals damaged Reflecting Pool, blasts DOJ for dropped charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

The president acknowledged \u201cthere may have been some contractor difficulty\u201d but said he disagreed with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for dropping a criminal charge against a former Olympian.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more Trump says he will \u2018push hard\u2019 for payout fund, keep Blanche as acting AG<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Thursday. (Manuel Balce Ceneta\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

President Donald Trump blasted U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Saturday for moving to drop a criminal charge filed against a former Olympian who had been accused of vandalizing the lining of the Lincoln Memorial\u2019s Reflecting Pool.<\/p>\n

Trump doubled down on claims that the renovated pool had been vandalized, even as federal prosecutors suggested the damage was instead due to \u201cbotched\u201d contractor work.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what she was thinking?\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social. \u201cTo me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.\u201d<\/p>

Read more U.S. general warns Pentagon he lacks sufficient forces to protect Israel<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!\u201d the president wrote.<\/p>\n

David Hearn, an Olympic canoeist, was arrested<\/a> <\/b>in June and accused of pulling up a piece of the pool\u2019s lining. According to Friday\u2019s filing in D.C. Superior Court<\/a>, internal Interior Department documents chalked up the peeling of the pool liner to contractor errors made during the hurried effort to overhaul the pool ahead of celebrations to mark the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n

Pirro\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump\u2019s statements. She had previously echoed<\/a> Trump\u2019s claims, saying last month she had \u201ctremendous evidence\u201d that Hearn had committed a felony.<\/p>

Read more The last day of an American factory<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The president acknowledged \u201cthere may have been some contractor difficulty\u201d but said he disagreed with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for dropping a criminal charge against a former Olympian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump insists vandals damaged Reflecting Pool, blasts DOJ for dropped charge - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8469\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump insists vandals damaged Reflecting Pool, blasts DOJ for dropped charge - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The president acknowledged \u201cthere may have been some contractor difficulty\u201d but said he disagreed with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for dropping a criminal charge against a former Olympian.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=8469\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-01T18:05:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/dfc73739cdba6a988597714752293aca-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Trump insists vandals damaged Reflecting Pool, blasts DOJ for dropped charge\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T18:05:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469\"},\"wordCount\":295,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/8c32cbdcdfd143173a93f71d898efbc0-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469\",\"name\":\"Trump insists vandals damaged Reflecting Pool, blasts DOJ for dropped charge - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/8c32cbdcdfd143173a93f71d898efbc0-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T18:05:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=8469#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/8c32cbdcdfd143173a93f71d898efbc0-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/8c32cbdcdfd143173a93f71d898efbc0-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, is shown, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Washington. 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