00:00President Trump says vandals used chemicals to damage the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial
00:04Reflecting Pool just weeks after a multi-million dollar restoration project was completed.
00:09Trump claimed on Truth Social that, quote, they took some form of knife or blade and put a 250
00:15foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build
00:20and complete. They also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the pool. The reflecting
00:25pool was never so beautiful as it was just one week ago. 250 feet is a mighty large bit of
00:31damage
00:31to do. Now, as the president mentioned, the pool has been going through a bit of a makeover recently
00:36and a rough one at that. Shortly after the 14.8 million dollar project was completed earlier this
00:42month, the algae that plagued the pool for years returned and the American flag blue paint on the
00:47bottom of the pool began peeling off in sheets. The president said multiple arrests had been made
00:52in connection to the vandalism, though he didn't provide details beyond that. But we do know about
00:56one arrest. 67-year-old David Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist. Probably not the vision of a
01:02vandal you were picturing? Well, he was cycling past the monument on Friday, and when he stopped,
01:08he said he noticed a piece of the pool's liner floating in the water. He told the Washington Post
01:12he reached out to touch it and was told by a park worker to let it go, which he says
01:15he promptly did
01:16before being taken into custody by park police. Hearn said, quote, I didn't destroy or break or peel
01:22anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs. Now, as for fixing
01:28the pool again, the president says he met with contractors over the weekend and conceded that
01:32they may need to drain most of the pool again, but promised to make the repairs quickly.
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