More arrests were made on Saturday at the Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC, as law enforcement cracks down on vandals destroying the new renovations. At least two, including former Olympian David Hearn, were arrested on Saturday after destroying the rubber sealant at the bottom of the pool and attempting to stop workers from clearing algae. The post (VIDEO) Several More Arrested at Reflecting Pool for Attempting to Rip Sealant Out appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
The pool has taken on clouds of algae after a hasty renovation. A three-time Olympian was charged with destroying government property after he says he touched one of the strands of blue paint peeling off the pool’s bottom.
The White House is getting a harsh response from numerous observers to its latest claim about the Reflecting Pool.When White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declared on X that the press had lost its mind over the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, she likely expected applause rather than a fact-check. Sharing a post that ridiculed the coverage, she wrote, "So true, and so sad. The liberal media is truly deranged." The line fit neatly into a broader MAGA effort to recast the pool's very public failure as a symptom of "Trump Derangement Syndrome." It did not land that way.The most pointed rebuttal came a day earlier from author and columnist John A. Daly, whose post was amplified by former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger. Daly argued that conservatives had manufactured the entire spectacle before turning around to whine about it, writing that "as with the Epstein Files, MAGA made a huge media-story out of the Reflecting Pool, only to turn around and complain about how much media attention it's received after blowing up in their faces."That observation cuts to the heart of why Leavitt's complaint rang hollow. The pool became a national story because the president personally made it one. Trump ordered the renovation that ballooned past $14 million, had the basin painted "American flag blue" for the country's 250th anniversary, and promoted it relentlessly. When the water bloomed green and the fresh surface began peeling away in sheets, he escalated rather than retreated, blaming "radical left lunatics," accusing an ABC News reporter of fueling the story, and claiming that "multiple individuals" faced "years in jail" for vandalism.Political scientist Ian Bremmer conceded the coverage was excessive but pinned the blame squarely on the president, noting that the saturation existed "in part because president trump spent too much time on it when he should have been talking about more important issues." Conservative Trump critics Tom Nichols piled on by circulating a chart that mocked the president's exaggerated claims about the reflecting pool's size.""Yes it’s a mystery," Nichols wrote in response with the chart. Conservative lawyer George Conway added, "You're kind of right: Instead of talking about how your boss turned the reflecting pool into the world's largest Petri dish, we should talking how he signed an instrument of surrender to Iran at Versailles. Of course, the only reason why we're talking about the reflecting pool is because he was bragging about how he was fixing it."Kinzinger also chimed in, "You guys made this a story. Brag about how awesome it is and a week later pretend you never cared anyway."Leavitt wanted the public to believe the media had conjured this controversy out of nothing. But people pointed out that her own administration spent two weeks building it, brick by brick, and the people she blamed simply reported what the White House kept handing them.You guys made this a story. Brag about how awesome it is and a week later pretend you never cared anyway https://t.co/64jnihbWFo pic.twitter.com/rnqjgPLU6n— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@AdamKinzinger) June 20, 2026
A journalist went down to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to see Donald Trump's renovation up close, and the most damning review came from the wildlife. The reflecting pool is "worse than you think" it is, ex-lawyer Aaron Parnas says in a video posted this weekend that drew nearly 40,000 views. "The ducks won't swim in it at all."What the camera captured does not flatter a project the administration sold as a centerpiece for the country's 250th anniversary. Parnas pans across water that should be a crisp "American flag blue" and finds it a swampy green instead, with debris drifting on the surface and sheets of paint peeling away from the bottom. "This pool is blue, by the way. It's supposed to be blue," he says dryly, dipping a gloved hand into the murk. "I'm going to go sanitize my hands now, because that was gross."The footage also shows what taxpayers are now funding to undo the damage. National Park Service crews in protective gear work the edges with aeration pumps and vacuums, scooping algae out of a basin that turned within days of being refilled. Parnas notes that ducklings perched on the side of the pool won't even get in the water.The science is not mysterious, whatever the White House would prefer. Shallow, sunny, stagnant pools bloom fast in summer heat, especially when nutrients from runoff and wildlife feed the growth. None of that has stopped Trump from blaming vandals, "radical left lunatics," and a reporter for the mess.Parnas skipped the conspiracy theories and let the pool speak for itself. "Just gross," he then added.
Donald Trump returned to his favorite subject Saturday evening, and his account of the great Reflecting Pool conspiracy grew more elaborate with every sentence. In a lengthy Truth Social post, the president announced that "many additional people have been arrested" over what he called "the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool," then offered a list of crimes that has expanded well beyond the algae and peeling paint that started the whole saga.According to Trump, the vandals did not merely tamper with the water. They "took some form of knife or blade" and carved a "250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade," and they "poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool." He framed the alleged sabotage as an insult to history, writing that the damage was "a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly." He added that he met with contractors and may be "forced to release and drain much of the water" to complete repairs.The president also delivered a characteristic burst of self-praise wrapped around a shaky history lesson. He claimed the pool "hasn't looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built," insisted his version "worked perfectly, including the mirror like finish," and declared it had never been "so beautiful as it was just one week ago." That timeline quietly undercuts itself, since a structure that worked perfectly a week ago would most likely not need to be drained and repaired now.What Trump did not provide, once again, was evidence. The only confirmed arrest so far is David Hearn, a 67-year-old cyclist and former Olympian charged with a misdemeanor after he touched a piece of paint that had already come loose, an accusation he denies. A second man was reportedly cited for putting his hand in the water. Neither episode resembles a knife-wielding chemical attack on a national monument.
Vice President JD Vance has departed for Switzerland to begin talks with Iran after signing the memorandum of understanding on Wednesday. Talks between the US and Iran are planned for Sunday at the Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland, according to CBS. The post JUST IN: VP Vance En Route to Switzerland – Tells Reporters Iranians “Just Landed” (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
President Trump claims the problems with the Reflecting Pool in Washington are due to vandalism.
President Donald Trump says the U.S. Park Police have rounded up a ring of vandals who sabotaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The actual arrest record tells a much smaller story: one 67-year-old cyclist who says he reached into the water to touch a piece of paint that had already fallen off.In a Truth Social post Saturday, Trump escalated his days-long insistence that his troubled $14 million renovation was the victim of a crime rather than a botched paint job. "The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Poll," he wrote, misspelling "Pool." "Who would do such a thing? These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair."According to The Washington Post, Park Police arrested a single person on Friday: David Hearn, a 67-year-old man from Bethesda and a three-time Olympic canoe slalom athlete, on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.Hearn's account bears no resemblance to a coordinated assault on a national landmark. He told the Post he had just finished a 52-mile bike ride, including a loop around Hains Point, and swung by the Lincoln Memorial to see the refurbished pool for himself. Noticing a chunk of the new "American flag blue" liner that had partially detached from the bottom, he reached into the water to feel it. Moments later, as he was getting ready to leave, officers put him in handcuffs."I didn't vandalize anything," Hearn told the paper. "I didn't destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs."The footage that fueled the arrest came from conservative journalist Emily Miller, who posted video online and claimed Hearn had grabbed a hose used by cleanup crews. Hearn said he only reached for the loose sealant. Either way, the charge is a misdemeanor, not the felony-grade "destruction of National Monuments" the president invoked, and it carries nothing resembling the "years in jail" he promised.We will report on additional details if more evidence surfaces.
An ex-GOP lawmaker has heard enough about phantom left-wing saboteurs at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and he is pointing at the only suspects who fit the evidence: the people Trump hired to clean it.In a series of posts and a new video, former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger dismantled the administration's vandalism narrative by accepting one piece of it. Yes, he conceded, chemicals were used on the pool. The catch is who used them and why. "Just for those who are saying there was chemical sabotage to peel the paint in the reflective pool, you're right," Kinzinger wrote. "It's just, you guys did it to kill the algae."His central claim cuts straight through the conspiracy theory. "The Trump administration dumped hydrogen peroxide to kill the algae and it stripped the paint," he said in the video, adding bluntly in a follow-up that "it was literally the people who painted it. They poured peroxide in it." In other words, the corrosive chemicals Trump blamed on radical leftists were the cleanup crew's own attempt to rescue a basin that had turned green within days of its multimillion-dollar makeover.Kinzinger backed the point with a quick search result showing that highly concentrated, industrial-grade hydrogen peroxide acts as a strong oxidizer capable of breaking down the binder in paint and causing it to bubble and peel. That is the same outcome now floating across the surface of the pool, which the president has described instead as a deliberate "knife or blade" attack and a "250 foot long gash" carved into a national monument.The contrast with how some Trump allies want to treat the matter is stark. Kinzinger was responding in part to commentator Jeff Storobinsky, who suggested that anyone "causing damage at the reflecting pool should face the same consequences of those who stormed the Capitol on 1.6." Kinzinger's reply amounts to a warning that such a standard would land on the administration itself, since by his account the damage was self-inflicted maintenance, not an assault by outsiders.His broader frustration was with a movement he says cannot tolerate the idea that its leader made a mistake. They are "unable to see a flaw in their God king," Kinzinger wrote Saturday, choosing an elaborate sabotage story over the simpler truth that a rushed, overpriced renovation failed on its own. The peeling paint, in his telling, is not evidence of a crime. It is evidence of a cover story falling apart in real time.I have to do another video on the reflective pool debacle. They are trying to say it was sabotaged by the left. They are unable to see a flaw in their God king. The Trump administration dumped hydrogen peroxide to kill the algae and it stripped the paint. pic.twitter.com/jGCha2yGoX— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@AdamKinzinger) June 20, 2026