CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Calls BS on Trump Over Reflecting Pool ‘Vandalism’ Rant

CNN anchor and senior White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins called BS on President Donald Trump’s explanation for the tribulations that have befallen the Reflecting Pool.

The latest chapter in the Reflecting Pool saga is Trump trying to shift blame for the condition of the monument in a Friday night Truth Social rant.

He wrote that “we’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool,” and accused ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl of “trying to rip the rubber off of the surface.”

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, a clearly amused Collins expressed skepticism about Trump’s excuses as she discussed it with Scott Jennings and Ameshia Cross:

COLLINS: You know, Scott, we were just talking about the reflecting pool in the last hour and the President has been posting about it. He posted a picture of someone who I guess is sensibly is at the reflecting pool wearing a shirt that says Team algae. And the President posted a very long post.

I’m not going to read all of it. But he said that they’re cleaning up all of these fountains and statues in Washington and on the Lincoln Memorial itself. He said we’ve had some real problems with vandalism at the reflecting pool.

And three days, just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside the pool. They’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was installed. He said no different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, referencing that 8647 that someone put into the grass, he said they use something similar in the reflecting pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work.

Do you, I mean, I haven’t heard that, but I mean, I wonder what you make of the President’s lengthy post tonight, also attacking a reporter for reporting on the condition of the Lincoln reflecting pool.

JENNINGS: Well, regarding the vandalism, that’s absolutely true. Somebody did vandalize the grass, even when workers were working on the reflecting pool. I think I read that people came and vandalized their trucks and their equipment.

Look, you have people that hate Donald Trump so much that they would go out and destroy our national monuments, vandalize the Lincoln Memorial, vandalize the grass. That’s how broken brain they are.

Donald Trump has cleaned up Washington. The fountains work, the city is clean, the city is safe. It’s good that he has taken an interest in this.

And you have these people out here who are so broken brain about the fact that he’s the President that they’re spending their time vandalizing all this stuff. I think it’s terrible. And I hope anybody who vandalizes our monuments, I hope they get caught, I hope they get put in jail.

He’s trying to make the city beautiful for America 250. It’s going to be a lot of people in Washington. They deserve to go to a clean, safe capital. And that’s what he’s trying to do.

COLLINS: Ameshia?

CROSS: Well, President Trump isn’t the President of landscaping and beautification projects across D.C. I think that the 14 million plus price tag that is associated with this cleanup project was ridiculous when the majority of Americans are asking for affordability. They’re asking for affordable health care, they’re asking for affordable child care, they’re asking for affordable housing, they’re asking for affordable utility bills and they can’t pay for gas.

This is a President whose priorities are all topsy turvy and one who’s not listening to any of his voters who are literally calling on him to do something that actually matters to them in their pocketbooks. Instead, he has taken it upon himself to be the landscaper-in-chief.

COLLINS: Scott.

JENNINGS: Ameshia, can I ask you a question? Did you oppose President Obama spending $34 million on the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool?

CROSS: I know that when President Obama invested, when he invested, he did it with science in mind. So there was not an algae takeover. This guy chose someone who didn’t even have a background in it, in the beautification he sought to begin with.

This is somebody who he knew personally because of his Mar-a-Lago connections, but not someone who was able to do exactly what anybody else. I worked at the EPA, knew that algae was going to come. You don’t necessarily have to be a science minded person to know what was going to happen.

But this President basically flushed our money down the drain and continues to do so.

JENNINGS: But you’re for the record, you believe that algae didn’t exist when Barack Obama was the President, is that right?

CROSS: I believe that once he invested in the beautification of that specific part, what we did not see was a takeover that was blue and green within 36-48 hours after the investment happened because we just didn’t believe it happened.

JENNINGS: Do you believe (inaudible) for 1.6 billion years, algae has existed in stagnant pools on planet Earth, but not during the Obama administration?

CROSS: What I’m saying is that it was treated, which is what Donald Trump could have done before he invested millions of American taxpayer dollars when Americans are fighting to put food on the tables for their families.

JENNINGS: I learned something tonight, I didn’t realize that President Obama had cured algae when for 1.6 billion years, algae had been undefeated. So I’ve learned something this evening.

Look, here’s the deal–

COLLINS: I think part of it was that the President was coming out and he has talked about these projects so much. I mean, he’s not just like this isn’t just other people bring up what he’s doing in Washington with the ballroom and the reflecting pool.

He brings them up pretty much every chance he’s in front of cameras. But he was the one who said they wouldn’t have algae, they wouldn’t have this, that they were going to fix this. And then I think it’s not just the algae, it’s the fact the paint is peeling off and all of that. And now he’s blaming it on vandals. But I’m not totally sure that

that’s the reason that the pool is having issues.

CROSS: It’s the incompetence of the contractor he chose.

Watch above via CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.

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