Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that multiple individuals have been arrested in connection with vandalism at the recently renovated Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., calling the damage a serious attack on a national landmark and demanding stiff criminal penalties.
In a series of posts on Truth Social, the president said the suspects caused extensive damage to the pool and surrounding grounds, which recently underwent a major refurbishment overseen by his administration.
“What these terrible Vandals have done is a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly,” he wrote.
The president praised the efforts of the U.S. Park Police and emphasized the seriousness of the alleged crimes.
“The United States Park Police have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nation’s magnificent Reflecting Pool,” President Trump said. “These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail!”
According to President Trump, the damage extends far beyond earlier reports involving sections of dead grass near the pool. He alleged that vandals carved a massive gash into the pool’s newly restored surface and poured corrosive chemicals into the water.
“They took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete,” he wrote. “They also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool.”
The president said federal officials and contractors met Saturday to assess the damage and determine next steps. Repairs could require draining a substantial portion of the Reflecting Pool to access damaged areas.
“We will probably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs,” he said, while promising the restoration would move forward as quickly as possible.
“The Reflecting Pool was never so beautiful as it was just one week ago, even going back to 1922 when it opened,” he wrote. “We are very proud of what we have done with this magnificent structure, and we will get it repaired, quickly, to an equal level of Beauty.”
cting One of those arrested reportedly included former Olympic cyclist David Hearn.