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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 citations to five additional individuals 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 had “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 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.
On Monday afternoon, Trump told reporters it was a “350-foot slit from one end to the other.”
“I saw it. They cut it. They cut it very violently,” he said.
When a reporter asked to see photos, Trump said, “You’ll see it in court, but all you have to do is call the parks department, call the Department of Interior.”
The National Park Service, U.S. Park Police and Interior Department did not immediately respond to requests from NBC News.
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.”
David McKee, 55, of Memphis, Tennessee, didn’t think the pool looked that bad. McKee said he was driving through D.C. to visit family in Pennsylvania and stopped to see the landmark because of the “controversy” surrounding the alleged vandalism.
“It’s not as bad as I thought,” he said. “I mean, I expected to see paint flaking and more algae, but it’s not nearly as bad as I thought.”
McKee said he thinks Trump’s attempts to clean up the pool are good, though he added it bothered him that Trump hired contractors “that he’s friends with” and that the cost is substantially higher than what the public was originally told it would be.
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 filings with the Federal Election Commission.
The company is tasked with using nanobubble technology to address the algae.
Clare Hanrahan, 70, from Asheville, North Carolina, said she thinks that fixing the pool again would be “such an appalling waste of money in a time in our country when so many are in need.”
Gabe Gutierrez is a senior White House correspondent for NBC News.
Helen Graham is a desk assistant for NBC News.
Senior Breaking News Reporter
Desk assistant at NBC News Washington.
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