President Donald Trump’s wild claims about his Reflecting Pool disaster don’t hold up even under his own administration’s reports.
Several of the president’s claims are at odds with government reports, according to The New York Times.
The Times, citing government documents it obtained, found that Trump’s claims of vandalism to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are not corroborated by any substantial evidence.
The Times said the documents revealed that two National Park Service workers did indeed find two cuts within the foam lining the pool’s expansion joints, but that they were unrelated to the “American flag blue” paint coating that has been floating up to the water’s surface.
It also said the cuts were not connected to the pool’s algae bloom, which is the worst the Washington, D.C. landmark has seen in years.
The newspaper found that the documents mentioned two 171-foot-long blade cuts, but did not specify how they were made.
Additionally, the Times found that the White House was aware of the pool’s deteriorating condition while insisting that the renovation project, which cost over $16 million, was a success.
On June 9, four days after the pool had been refilled, NPS workers found cuts in the foam, along with holes and cracks in parts of the pool, according to the Times.
A Park Police report filed on June 9, obtained by the Times, described the cuts as “razor blade slashes” along a 20-foot-long section of the pool foam.
Workers found that blue sealant flaps at the bottom of the pool had risen to the surface by June 16, and that some of the devices used to mitigate algal growth were not working as intended.
Meanwhile, on June 15, the president had been proudly telling reporters that he was “very good at building things and constructing things.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump has complained that “leftists” have vandalized the Reflecting Pool, claiming that people have dumped fertilizer in the water to promote algal growth and cut a “350-foot gash” into the basin.
“It was purposefully and criminally done, and somebody had to work very hard, probably in the dark of night,” he wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.
The president said that “six people have been arrested, and seven people have been cited” for alleged vandalism of the pool.
The Times said it reached out to the Interior Department and the White House for charging documents or citations for those arrested, but was only given access to the Park Police report. The report did not describe any damage to the pool’s sealant or the dumping of any fertilizer, according to the newspaper.
Trump said that the pool will be drained and refilled again “either immediately before or after the Fourth of July to do the permanent repair,” putting a damper on his planned festivities for America’s upcoming semiquincentennial.
