Trump defends reflecting pool project, blames ‘deranged' vandals

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, July 19, claimed the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool was vandalised intentionally as blue material from his nearly $15 million renovation project started peeling off days after the pool was refilled.

Writing on Truth Social, he alleged: “We’ve had some real problems with vandalism at the beautiful reflecting pool.”

“The algae is 75% gone, and the condition will soon be completely remedied. The area that was vandalised, fortunately, is just a small area of damage, and will be fixed early next week,” he added.

However, Trump provided no solid evidence to prove his claims.

During the past few weeks, the pool has been repainted blue and filled as part of an effort to renovate it, which at first was estimated to cost $1.8 million but has risen to $14.7 million, as noted by Interior Department contract summaries.

Trump associated the alleged vandalism with the mysterious etching of “8647” into the grass on the National Mall days prior.

However, during the past few weeks, the pool has been repainted blue and filled as part of an effort to renovate it, which at first was estimated to cost $1.8 million but has risen to $14.7 million, as noted by Interior Department contract summaries.

Trump claimed: “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside the pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed .”

“No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the reflecting pool,” he added.

As a slang term, "86" refers to discarding something. Trump happens to be the 47th president, and the numbers have recently been used as a sign of defiance against him. "4" and "6" were originally difficult to tell apart but now stand out clearly.

Trump highlighted his work in beautifying D.C., criticising the Democrats for failing to fix the pool before. The remodeling of the Reflecting Pool by the president has been one of the key issues during his second presidential tenure.