Trump Admin Installs Chain-Link Fencing, Surveillance Cameras at Reflecting Pool

Screenshot via TMZ

President Donald Trump has not yet been able to offer evidence of the “vandals” he claims damaged the Reflecting Pool, but the administration is not taking any chances, installing surveillance cameras and chain-link fencing around the area on Tuesday.

Trump’s decision to drain the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and paint the bottom “American Flag Blue” has been criticized for its cost, plus the no-bid $14 million contract that was given to an ally. Since the pool was refilled, the water has been plagued with spreading bright green algae, and the paint has been peeling away. Reporters have seen tourists tearing off pieces of the paint to bring home as souvenirs.

The National Park Service has sent out work crews to try to combat the algae through various means, including pouring hydrogen peroxide into the water. That appears to have been an inadequate fix, initially killing off some of the algae along the outer edges of the Reflecting Pool and possibly even causing or exacerbating the peeling paint. Tests conducted by two scientists on behalf of a reporter from The Atlantic found that a new “more aggressive” type of algae was spreading throughout the water.

Several people have been arrested after allegedly putting their hands in the water or touching the peeling paint, including former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn, who is being represented by attorney Norm Eisen and has vowed to fight the charges filed against him for destruction of federal government property.

Trump has written multiple Truth Social posts accusing unnamed vandals of damaging the Reflecting Pool, blaming “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE” for the peeling paint and other issues. On Monday, the president again vented his frustrations in a Truth Social post, claiming that vandals had put a “300-foot-long gash” in the Reflecting Pool’s paint and “chemicals have been illegally placed in the water.”

“Please remember that there is a 10-year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things – Which will be fully enforced!” Trump added.

On Tuesday, TMZ DC reporter Charlie Cotton posted a photo of new “AI surveillance” cameras that had been installed at the Reflecting Pool.

TMZ’s report on the new security cameras showed them being towed into place on trailers and noted that they included AI features and “real-time tracking, intrusion detection, HD monitoring, strobe lights, automated spotlights and loud, talk-down horn speaker.”

Later in the day Tuesday, Cotton posted a new video clip showing workers installing sections of chain-mail fencing around the Reflecting Pool.

TMZ previously sent “an anonymous pool surfacing expert” and a “veteran pool consultant” named Rudy Stankowitz to the Reflecting Pool to evaluate what likely caused the algae and peeling paint issues.

“[B]oth experts told us the problem looks self-inflicted,” reported TMZ, and “likely” originated during installation. “The anonymous expert told us the coating appears to have never properly bonded to the pool’s surface … while Stankowitz believes crews may have missed a critical recoating window during the project — two different paths to the same conclusion.”

Trump claimed earlier this week that the National Parks Service had evidence that vandalism had occurred. TMZ reporter Jacob Wasserman called and then physically visited the NPS in an attempt to obtain this alleged evidence, “but they couldn’t back up Trump’s claims … and literally gave him someone else’s contact info on a crumpled up piece of colored paper.”

“Talk about a fishing expedition,” TMZ’s report quipped.

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