Reflecting Pool to be drained as Trump again blames 'vandals' for recent troubles
Trump said vandals cut a long slit in it and possibly dumped fertiliser in the water, and later threatened to sue over reporting on the pool.

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from using expanded government databases in its effort to purge voter rolls of foreigners.U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said the government "trampled" on the privacy rights of Americans and risked wrongfully purging voter rolls of Americans legally allowed to vote.'It's amazing how hard the Left will fight to stop us from solving problems they insist do not exist.'"All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote," Sooknanan said. "This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens."The administration added government data, including Social Security data, to the SAVE federal database, which stands for Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements. SAVE is used to detect ineligible voters.However, Sooknanan ruled that the expansion of the database violated privacy protections passed by Congress. She said the administration ignored the rules in order to "comply with an executive order aimed at reshaping federal elections, which directed them to create a system for mass voter verification."James Percival, the general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the ruling on social media."It's amazing how hard the Left will fight to stop us from solving problems they insist do not exist," he wrote. "Judge Sparkle Soknanan's [sic] latest ruling preventing DHS from addressing alien voting is just the latest example!"Democracy Forward represented the group that challenged the expanded database."As the Trump-Vance administration continues its attack on the right to vote, this is an important victory for the American people and our democracy," said Skye Perryman, the group's CEO and president. "The data at the heart of this lawsuit was unlawfully consolidated in violation of privacy laws intended to protect sensitive personal information.”The group added in a statement on social media: "This protects millions from baseless investigations and unlawful voter roll purges — a critical win for voting rights."RELATED: Trump order leads to investigation of 33 potential incidents of noncitizen voting, AG Paxton says Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York also praised the ruling."We got a big win in court today for free and fair elections, blocking Donald Trump's efforts to set up a massive voter purge database," he wrote on social media."I called this out months ago as one of Trump's most sinister strategies for subverting our elections this November," he added. "That's why Democrats blocked the wretched SAVE Act in the Senate — and we'll do so again, and again, and again. Democrats won't stop fighting until all of Trump's plans to rig the system are defeated."Sooknanan was nominated to the bench by former President Joe Biden in Jan. 2025 just ahead of Trump entering his second term.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Trump said vandals cut a long slit in it and possibly dumped fertiliser in the water, and later threatened to sue over reporting on the pool.
An embarrassed conservative columnist admitted that CNN had accurately reported on the details of President Donald Trump's proposed deal with the Iranian regime, even though the columnist refused to believe it. Becket Adams, a conservative columnist for The Hill and National Review Online, wrote in a new op-ed for The Hill on Monday that the president's cosplaying as "war chief" has been disastrous. He also slighted the so-called Memorandum of Understanding that Trump and the Iranians allegedly agreed to, which punts talks about the Iranians' nuclear program in exchange for allowing the global sponsor of terrorism to immediately resume selling oil. Adams argued that the deal showed "there’s nothing left except to concede that the U.S. was done in by a few mines.""Boy, was I wrong," he wrote. Adams claimed he took issue with the way CNN framed the agreement, saying he didn't believe the Iranian regime would think to close the Strait of Hormuz again. On Saturday, the Iranian military announced it was doing just that in response to continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. "The cable network later updated its reporting to explain that 'Trump administration officials briefed lawmakers on long-standing military plans to address a major disruption to the Strait, according to one official, but that multiple sources familiar with the session said there was no indication there were any near-term solutions.' I criticized this framing as well, given that the clarification was way off from the first claim," Adams claimed. "Again, I apologize. CNN’s sources were clearly correct. This iteration of the Trump presidency is exactly as inept as advertised," he added.
Add David Hearn to Donald Trump's ever-growing list of enemies of the state. The Bethesda man was out for a bike ride in Washington, D.C., last Friday and decided to spin over to the Reflecting Pool see how its new, Trump-ordained "American flag blue" color struck him. He noticed that a piece of the new blue liner was partly detached from the pool's bottom (it's only 18 inches deep at the edges), and he reached down to see what it felt like, he told The Washington Post.
Vice President JD Vance is in a politically precarious spot.
The DOJ 'explicitly relied on the Zwonitzer materials in deciding not to prosecute Biden because of his mental state.'
Trump’s claims that ‘vandals’ are to blame don’t hold water so far – key US politics stories from Monday 22 JuneDonald Trump is claiming – without providing evidence – that the sorry state of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool weeks after a $14m renovation is the work of “vandals”.On Monday, Trump was adamant it was not the pool company to blame for the algae blooms and peeling paint, instead pointing to five people arrested for vandalism and five more are under investigation. Continue reading...
President Donald Trump said he was suing ABC over its “false” reporting on the alleged vandalism of the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. In a post on Truth Social, the president let loose on ABC News over its coverage of the drama over the Reflecting Pool and its renovation, believing the reporting was egregious […]
President Donald Trump posted a photo of a “pro-algae” protester as he continues cracking down on the alleged vandals of the newly refurbished Reflecting Pool. The Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial has become a culture war flash point after Trump decided to renovate it. Following its quick deterioration, the president and his […]