President Donald Trump publicly broke with the Justice Department over its finding that damage to the newly renovated reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington was caused by faulty installation rather than vandalism.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he disagreed 100 percent with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the reflecting pool, adding that he did not know what she was thinking and that to him it was a clear case of vandalism.
In a court filing, Pirro and assistant U.S. attorney Michael Spence asked a judge to drop the government’s case against David Hearn, 67, a former Olympian who had been charged with vandalizing the pool.
Federal prosecutors said documents recently received from the Interior Department indicated a rushed and faulty installation process, with repeated liner failures during installation and extensive liner detachment across the pool.
The renovated pool had developed algae clusters that turned the water green, and sections of its blue liner had come loose. Trump, who has faced criticism over the $14.7 million renovation, had repeatedly attributed the problems to vandals he claimed had deliberately sabotaged the project.
