Trump is still claiming vandals destroyed the Reflecting Pool - ignoring the facts laid out by his own team

Donald Trump is sticking with an account in which vandals ruined the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial, even though federal prosecutors he named have told a court that a faulty installation of the pool's lining caused the harm. The Independent reports that the contractor responsible was one the president chose himself.

At a Saturday campaign stop in Perry, Georgia, backing Republican candidates, the 80-year-old president said his administration had scrubbed graffiti from statues and fountains around Washington, D.C. He dismissed coverage of the pool as fake news and said the structure, which he dated to 1922, had never worked properly and had always leaked. He still cited "tremendous vandalism," and said pipes needed to be redone. A temporary fix, he explained, was aimed at having water in place for July 4. Refilling, he said, had reached 90 percent, with a few more days required.

Earlier in the week, Trump used Truth Social to describe the pool as 70% full and looking good. He added a warning of jail time for anybody who damages it.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Independent’s reporting. Read the full story at The Independent →