BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 1. U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly rejected his own Justice Department's conclusion that construction flaws, rather than vandalism, caused damage to the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote:
"I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don't know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM."
Trump's comments came a day after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence asked a federal judge to dismiss the administration's case against David Hearn, a 67-year-old former Olympian who had been accused of vandalizing the site.
In a court filing, federal prosecutors said newly received documents from the Department of the Interior indicated that the damage resulted from a "rushed and flawed installation process", citing repeated failures of the pool's liner during installation and widespread peeling afterward.
The $14.7 million renovation had drawn criticism after algae growth turned the water green and sections of the blue liner began peeling shortly after the project was completed.
