President Donald Trump said Monday that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was 70 percent filled following repairs, while threatening jail time for anyone who vandalizes the landmark.
In a post on Truth Social Monday, Trump wrote the pool was “70% filled with water and looking good.”
“Any Vandals that try to prove the point otherwise, will GO TO JAIL!” the president added. “We are watching very closely, and security cameras have been installed.”
The comments revive a dispute over the source of extensive damage to the pool’s lining. Federal prosecutors previously moved to dismiss a criminal case against former Olympian canoeist David Hearn after concluding that the damage stemmed from a rushed installation rather than vandalism.
Prosecutors said documents provided by the Interior Department showed the flaws resulted from an effort to complete the project ahead of events surrounding the America 250 celebration.
When reached by email Monday, the White House referred Newsweek to the president’s post on Truth Social.
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the District of Columbia Court on Monday by email for comment.
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Trump Gives Update
Trump claimed in his Truth Social post that the pool “has not worked properly since it was built in 1922,” adding: “It always leaked! This will be different.”
He predicted the landmark “will only get better,” provided there is “NO VANDALISM,” and repeated allegations that vandals had previously caused considerable damage, describing a “vast area of cut and slashed pool surface.” Trump also alleged that grass near the pool had been “scarred by poison” with the numbers “86 47” and said the turf had since been replaced.
Water began flowing back into the Reflecting Pool on October 12 after months of construction setbacks, with fencing still surrounding portions of the basin as crews completed final repairs and cosmetic work.
Trump announced the refurbishment in April and said at a White House event later that month that the project could be completed within two weeks for between $1.5 million and $2 million. However, the project ultimately developed into a multimillion-dollar undertaking and its newly applied blue coating began peeling within weeks of the initial work being completed.
The National Park Service said the water could temporarily appear cloudy during the normal refilling process before clearing.
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Prosecutors Rejected Vandalism Explanation
Trump’s renewed claim that vandals severely damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool conflicts with federal prosecutors’ findings, which instead point to a botched contractor installation ahead of the America 250 celebration.
The DOJ had initially charged Hearn with one count of property destruction in connection with the pool. However, prosecutors moved to dismiss the case on July 31 after receiving additional documents from the Interior Department that undermined the vandalism theory.
Prosecutors noted that a visual inspection revealed damage throughout the pool, including in the middle, where a vandal would have been unlikely to attempt to peel the lining.
“Given all of this newly discovered information, it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” prosecutors wrote in their filing.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said evidence provided by the Interior Department showed Hearn was not responsible for the damage to the pool’s lining. The government instead attributed the damage to a botched installation by a contractor and the rush to complete the work before the America 250 celebration.
On October 1, D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman dismissed Hearn’s case with prejudice, preventing prosecutors from refiling the felony charge against him.
Hearn told Newsweek shortly after his arrest that he had been cycling when he stopped near the reflecting pool and put his hand in the water to touch a piece of the lining that looked like it had already been damaged.
Trump, however, repeated his position in his latest Truth Social post, saying the Reflecting Pool had been “badly damaged by Vandals” and attacking the conclusions reached by someone in the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, whom he said “got it wrong.”
To support his claim of vandalism, Trump pointed to video footage, a television segment hosted by Fox News' Jesse Watters, and damage he stated he had observed around the site.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Anthony Murray and Samantha Beech.