At least five people arrested in alleged tampering of Reflecting Pool, official says – NBC News
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At least five people have been arrested in connection with the alleged vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, an administration official said Monday, as President Donald Trump threatened long prison terms for offenders.
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The five arrests and five additional citations to other people have come in the wake of Trump saying Saturday, with no evidence so far, that vandals at the Reflecting Pool cut a 250-foot-long “gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete.”
Among those arrested was former U.S. Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn, who previously told NBC News he was detained for five hours Friday after touching a piece of detached coating at the Reflecting Pool.
Over the weekend, following a meeting with contractors at Camp David, Trump said the Reflecting Pool would likely need to be drained again.
Marine One was spotted Sunday flying over the area, and Trump said he’d “inspected” the Reflecting Pool.
Trump on Monday morning repeated his claims that the Reflecting Pool is under attack ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday in two weeks. In a post on Truth Social, the president said that the Reflecting Pool has “been given a 300-foot-long gash” as “chemicals have been illegally” placed in the water.
“Please remember that there is a 10-year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things — Which will be fully enforced!” Trump added in his Truth Social post.
Tourist Lyndel Monros said the algae was a jarring sight and made the Reflecting Pool anything but the “U.S. blue” that the administration claims is the memorial’s color.
“It’s not American blue, it’s very green,” Monros told NBC News on Sunday. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but it kind of looks like there’s a septic leak going on, to be honest. It’s a lot worse than what they show on TV. It’s a lot worse in person.”
Hannah Carol, who lives in the area, said the pool has always had a bit of algae, but it’s never looked as bad as it does now.
“It’s like peeling paint. I got yelled at from the National Guard by just like looking at it too close,” she said. “I saw peeling paint, like, pieces or some type of plastic.”
Carol said she does not understand why the public is being accused of vandalism.
“I think that if there’s a coating that’s peeling off, if there’s an adhered coating that’s peeling off from the substrate, like it’s not going to go back on. You have to peel it up, and you have to redo it, like it’s not like you’re vandalizing or making the situation worse by taking up something that’s already peeled off,” she said. “You’re not going to just slap it back on, you’re gonna have to redo it.”
Work at the Reflecting Pool is being done by Green Water Solutions, which was awarded a $1.7 million no-bid government contract for algae removal.
Green Water Solutions is owned by John J. Cafaro, who gave $250,000 to the Trump Victory Committee in June 2020, according to FEC filings.
The company is tasked with using nanobubble technology to address the algae.
Gabe Gutierrez is a senior White House correspondent for NBC News.
Helen Graham is a desk assistant for NBC News.
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