President Trump announced Saturday that the United States Park Police arrested multiple individuals for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, claiming the damage constitutes serious crimes warranting years in prison. "The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Pool," Trump posted on Truth Social. "These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail!"
Trump alleged vandals caused extensive damage to the newly renovated pool. He claimed suspects "took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade" and "poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool." The president said he met with contractors Saturday and determined much of the water will likely need to be drained for repairs.
One of those arrested was David Hearn, a 67-year-old from Bethesda, Maryland, and three-time Olympic canoeist. Hearn was detained for five hours Friday after he reached into the pool to examine a piece of peeling coating. He told NBC News he touched a detached section of the blue sealant out of curiosity while ending a bike ride. "I didn't remove, tear, rip, break or destroy any of it," Hearn said. "The condition of the reflecting pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there."
Hearn said the officer who arrested him could not explain which federal law he had violated. He was charged with destruction of government property and has a court date next month. National Guard troops and Park Police were involved in his detention. The National Guard did not respond to requests for comment on the arrest.
The $14 million renovation project has faced multiple setbacks since workers refilled the 2,030-foot pool after applying a new "American flag blue" sealant to its floor. Within days, an algae bloom turned the water fluorescent green, and chunks of the blue coating began peeling off and floating on the surface.
Trump handpicked the color of the industrial-grade sealant and has taken personal interest in the project, visiting the site and discussing it at length. He previously mocked his predecessors over the pool's past condition, saying "It never had the color people wanted, but now it's going to have the great color."
An Interior Department spokesperson attributed the algae bloom to "residual algae" from stagnant water in the pool's supply lines, calling it "part of the normal startup process." The department later said the Nano Bubble filtration system "very effectively killed the algae." Workers were seen removing algae and dumping hydrogen peroxide into the water to address the problem.
The federal government awarded a $1.7 million no-bid contract to Green Water Solutions to install a Nano Bubble filtration system at the pool. The company is owned by the JJ Cafaro Investment Trust, whose president and CEO is John J. Cafaro, identified on Federal Election Commission filings as a Trump donor who gave $250,000 to the Trump Victory fundraising committee in 2020.
The government justified the no-bid contract by citing a contracting rule for projects of "unusual and compelling urgency" and noting the Nano Bubble system is a "highly specialized and niche technology with limited domestic suppliers." The Interior Department awarded the contract in April to replace "the existing, failing filtration infrastructure" before the nation's 250th birthday on July 4.
Cafaro has a history of campaign finance violations. He pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in 2010 over donations to his daughter's congressional campaign and pleaded guilty nearly a decade earlier to conspiring to bribe Democratic Representative James Traficant, cooperating with prosecutors afterward. Cafaro and his wife own a home in Palm Beach, Florida, less than a mile from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
When asked about the contract, Cafaro told The Vindicator newspaper that Trump "doesn't know a thing about" his company's work with the pool. "The system is working" to kill algae, Cafaro said, and public attention is driven by "people who don't seem to like Trump." White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said the Interior Department awarded the contract without White House involvement in the selection process.
Multiple sources noted Trump made vandalism claims without providing evidence. He alleged Friday that three days prior, vandals had "destroyed the grass outside of the Pool" and "done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed." He referenced the discovery of large numbers "86 47" etched in discolored grass on the National Mall the week before, which authorities said could have been meant as a threat to the 47th president.
Trump acknowledged problems at the site and attributed them to vandalism rather than construction defects. Trump insisted something nefarious occurred, posting: "No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work."
President Trump announced Saturday that the United States Park Police arrested multiple individuals for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, claiming the damage constitutes serious crimes warranting years in prison. "The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Pool," Trump posted on Truth Social. "These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail!"
Trump alleged vandals caused extensive damage to the newly renovated pool. He claimed suspects "took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade" and "poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool." The president said he met with contractors Saturday and determined much of the water will likely need to be drained for repairs.
One of those arrested was David Hearn, a 67-year-old from Bethesda, Maryland, and three-time Olympic canoeist. Hearn was detained for five hours Friday after he reached into the pool to examine a piece of peeling coating. He told NBC News he touched a detached section of the blue sealant out of curiosity while ending a bike ride. "I didn't remove, tear, rip, break or destroy any of it," Hearn said. "The condition of the reflecting pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there."
Hearn said a National Guardsman who arrested him could not explain which federal law he had violated. He was charged with destruction of government property and has a court date next month. The National Guard did not respond to requests for comment on the arrest.
The $14 million renovation project has faced multiple setbacks since workers refilled the 2,030-foot pool after applying a new "American flag blue" sealant to its floor. Within days, an algae bloom turned the water fluorescent green, and chunks of the blue coating began peeling off and floating on the surface.
Trump handpicked the color of the industrial-grade sealant and has taken personal interest in the project, visiting the site and discussing it at length. He previously mocked his predecessors over the pool's past condition, saying "It never had the color people wanted, but now it's going to have the great color."
An Interior Department spokesperson attributed the algae bloom to "residual algae" from stagnant water in the pool's supply lines, calling it "part of the normal startup process." The department later said the Nano Bubble filtration system "very effectively killed the algae." Workers were seen removing algae and dumping hydrogen peroxide into the water to address the problem.
The federal government awarded a $1.7 million no-bid contract to Green Water Solutions to install a Nano Bubble filtration system at the pool. The company is owned by the JJ Cafaro Investment Trust, whose president and CEO is John J. Cafaro, identified on Federal Election Commission filings as a Trump donor who gave $250,000 to the Trump Victory fundraising committee in 2020.
The government justified the no-bid contract by citing a contracting rule for projects of "unusual and compelling urgency" and noting the Nano Bubble system is a "highly specialized and niche technology with limited domestic suppliers." The Interior Department awarded the contract in April to replace "the existing, failing filtration infrastructure" before the nation's 250th birthday on July 4.
Cafaro has a history of campaign finance violations. He pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in 2010 over donations to his daughter's congressional campaign and pleaded guilty nearly a decade earlier to conspiring to bribe Democratic Representative James Traficant, cooperating with prosecutors afterward. Cafaro and his wife own a home in Palm Beach, Florida, less than a mile from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
When asked about the contract, Cafaro told The Vindicator newspaper that Trump "doesn't know a thing about" his company's work with the pool. "The system is working" to kill algae, Cafaro said, and public attention is driven by "people who don't seem to like Trump." White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said the Interior Department awarded the contract without White House involvement in the selection process.
Trump has not provided evidence to support his vandalism claims. He alleged Friday that three days prior, vandals had "destroyed the grass outside of the Pool" and "done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed." He referenced the discovery of large numbers "86 47" etched in discolored grass on the National Mall the week before, which authorities said could have been meant as a threat to the 47th president.
The peeling paint and algae bloom appear difficult to explain through vandalism alone. Even if someone pulled ribbons of paint from the pool's side, it would not account for clouds of algae in green water and swaths of loose blue paint detached from the bottom. Trump insisted something nefarious occurred, posting: "No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work."
Days before announcing the vandalism arrests, Trump's administration claimed the pool was "crystal clear" despite visible green water. Trump later acknowledged "real problems" at the site but attributed them to foul play rather than issues with the renovation itself.
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