Trump blames Reflecting Pool ‘vandals’ for dead grass where his July 4 celebrations were held
President Trump has blamed the appearance of swathes of dead grass at the National Mall on “vandals.”
The accusation comes just weeks after the president began to allege that algae blooms and peeling pool lining in the waters of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool were the result of vandalism.
On Truth Social, Trump shared an aerial image of the grass at the National Mall which appeared to have large, dead patches in the same area that he held his July 4 celebration.
“Look what VANDALS did to the grass connecting the vandalized World War II Monument and the vandalized Reflecting Pool, which will be opened again, and better than ever, shortly,” Trump wrote on Sunday night. “Anybody who thinks the Reflecting Pool wasn’t vandalized should go back to Law School!”
The spot, which is near Washington, D.C.’s World War II Memorial, played host to more than 400,000 people ahead of his July 4 speech, Trump has previously claimed.
Footage from a livestreaming webcam taken during the July 4 celebrations and reviewed by The Associated Press showed a bandstand and a seating area covering the lawn that Trump says has been vandalized.
Photographs taken by the publication also showed workers removing the structures in the days after the speech, with brown grass being revealed under each.
Trump has previously accused vandals of causing damage around Washington, D.C., most notoriously with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been the site of major renovations.
The president announced plans to have the pool refurbished and repainted an “American-flag blue” earlier this year.
However, after the pool was refilled, bright green algae blooms quickly began appearing in the water. The pool’s lining also began to peel away, with tourists spotting chunks of the lining floating on the water’s surface.
Trump quickly began suggesting that vandals had slashed the pool lining and that they had even poured chemicals into the water.
Amid the controversy, former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was arrested for allegedly vandalizing the pool, only for the charges against him to be dropped.
Trump later lashed out at Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, after she moved to drop charges against Hearn.
“I was disappointed in Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “She folded like an umbrella.”
