Posted on 06/25/2026 10:17:25 PM PDT by lasereye
A liner along the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was cut with a sharp knife or razor this month, causing damage to the foam sealant installed as part of a $16 million rehabilitation project, a top official at the National Park Service says.
The U.S. Park Police responded June 9 to a complaint by the park service, said Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the park service. Lands made the statement in a court document filed late Wednesday as part of a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit organization to halt the Trump administration's work on the project.
The police report indicates damage to the pool, "including a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material," Lands said. About 70 fence post tops were also thrown into the pool, he said.
The statements were the first time the Republican administration has offered specifics for when and how the Reflecting Pool may have been damaged after work on the project was substantially completed.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department said Thursday that public notification about the damage was delayed because, “at the time of the June 9 incident, the vandalism was under investigation and believed to be isolated. So as not to encourage deranged individuals, we did not announce what we hoped to be an isolated incident.”
Around the same time, park service staff "discovered another incident where fencing around the pool had been forcibly removed and thrown into the pool," the spokesperson said in an email.
The department soon noticed that "recurring cases and videos of people ripping at the coating began to circulate. We then knew this was not an isolated incident, but a new trend to attempt to damage the Reflecting Pool".
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
To use common English: “Weren’t no accident at all!:
Was there no on-site security, no video cameras?
Trump has never been my hero, but this post is too stupid for words. The guy was in the business of building hotels, casinos, and golf courses. Think for a minute: how many ponds and fountains do those facilities total? To think he wouldn't know what is involved in that pool or what it would take to fix it, or wouldn't know half a dozen subcontractors who'd done them for him before, or would cheap out on its construction is simply idiotic. You've been here a looong time. You should know better by now.
Wow. That is some pretty broad hate for President Trump and people on Free Republic. You need to go where you are wanted. You’ll be right at home. “Good Germans” indeed.
Seek help. Professional help.
My, myyy...we better have you eat a bar of soap with that bitch mouth of yours. We know where you take it.
Death penalty for defacing national monuments and structures. Hang them from the poles around the Washington Monument.
I was thinking the same thing You think Washington DC would have a camera on every corner with the local thugs that live there The people that are doing this are probably from Fairfax VA though that worked for the government
According to Fox, records show former Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who was charged in the weekend vandalism of the Reflecting Pool, has ties to a major left-wing fundraising network as protesters descended on the National Mall and racked up multiple criminal charges.
Hearn, 67, donated to Democratic fundraising apparatus ActBlue 10 times while also contributing to Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns five times, an administration official told Fox News Digital.
Yeah. Hearn says he was just curious and reached in to “see what the coating felt like”. Just happened to be passing by is all.
Right.
Although to be fair, my brother “donated” to ActBlue at least ten times with $2 donations, and he would never, EVER donate to them.
you really think a party that would try to shoot the President 3 times would deface a national monument?
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