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National Guard members and U.S. Park Police patrolled around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday as part of a crackdown against suspected vandalism after the pool’s waters turned green from an algae bloom and blue paint added to the pool floated to the surface.
The patrols come as the Department of the Interior said five arrests were made in connection with the suspected vandalism and five additional federal citations were issued. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News of a sixth arrest, along with 17 police reports filed for vandalism.
Leavitt said those arrested were “longtime donors to the Democrat Party, to Barack Obama, to ActBlue,” though she did not provide details.
“We’re going to not only hold those people accountable, but we’re going to fix the pool, continue to make it beautiful from this despicable vandalism just in time to celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday next week,” she added.
The Hill has reached out to the National Guard and U.S. Park Police for comment about the sixth arrest and continued patrols.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro on Sunday said anyone caught vandalizing the pool will be prosecuted, while President Trump has said the 10-year prison sentence for anyone convicted of destroying federal property will be “fully enforced.”
Trump said Monday in the Oval Office that vandals used box cutters to slash the coating and claimed that the fertilizer was dumped into the pool to cause the algae to grow. He said the pool would again undergo renovations within a shorter timeframe, after the pool was drained last month for the initial $14.2 million renovation project.
Earlier renovations had the bottom of the pool painted “American flag blue” and waterproofed, while leaking joints were also resealed. But within days of the water refilling the 2,028-long pool earlier this month, the water turned a green hue as algae blooms formed in the water.
The Interior Department said crews have handled the algae by using hydrogen peroxide and nanobubble technology.
Next came the clumps of blue paint that floated to the water’s surface. Visitors to the pool noticed this, among them former U.S. Olympian David Hearn. He was arrested after he “reached in there” and grabbed the end of a piece of paint that was already peeling, he told The Washington Post. Hearn has denied any wrongdoing.
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn, a Bethesda, Md., resident told the outlet. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
Critics have said the president’s claim of vandalism is an attempt to deflect blame for the ongoing water quality and maintenance problems after the renovation.
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