At least five people have been arrested in connection with the alleged vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, an administration official said Monday. President Donald Trump threatened long prison terms for offenders, stating that the Reflecting Pool would likely need to be drained again.
Arrests and Investigation
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. The five arrests and five additional citations to other people have come in the wake of Trump saying Saturday 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.”
Marine One was spotted Sunday flying over the area, and Trump said he’d “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 two weeks. 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.
Contractor and Controversy
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 FEC filings. The company is tasked with using nanobubble technology to address the algae.
Original reporting: NBC Connecticut (Hartford) — read the source article.
