Photo: Alamy
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Saturday that investigators have uncovered previously undisclosed incidents involving threatening messages directed at President Donald Trump in and around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, as he called for stiff penalties against those responsible for vandalizing the site.
“We’ve had seven arrests, a number of other citations, 18 police reports … There’s multiple cases both on the grass and in the pool that we had not reported before we even filled it up where people were making threatening messages to President Trump,” Burgum said during an appearance on Fox News.
“President Trump came to DC to try and drain the swamp and some of these folks are trying to bring it back. It is, as he says, it’s crazy.”
According to Burgum, vandals painted large “8647” markings near the Reflecting Pool. An Interior Department spokeswoman also cited “the cutting of fuel lines around the Great American State Fair” as part of the ongoing investigation.
Burgum said the Reflecting Pool, which recently underwent a $14.7 million renovation that included the application of what President Trump has called “American Flag” blue sealant, is an integral part of the historic Lincoln Memorial.
“So when people are using box cutters to do vandalism on this thing it’s the same as if they were throwing paint on Lincoln’s statue in the eyes of the law,” he said.
His remarks echoed comments Trump made earlier this month, when the president said vandals cut a roughly 300-foot gash into the newly restored pool.
“You know, we have 100- … I think 290-, 300-foot slit right through it,” the president said June 22. “Probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind.”
Workers have since installed security fencing around the Reflecting Pool as repairs continue.
Trump has also alleged that vandals intentionally caused an algae bloom by introducing fertilizer into the water, though he has not publicly provided evidence supporting that claim. “They did something to create the algae,” President Trump said.
The White House has released surveillance video from June 19 that it says shows suspects damaging the Reflecting Pool. The U.S. Park Police have also issued a bulletin seeking the public’s help in identifying an individual wanted in connection with the destruction of government property.
