A top official with the National Park Service has confirmed that the liner along the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was cut with a sharp knife or razor earlier this month, causing damage to the foam sealant installed as part of a $16 million rehabilitation project.
Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the park service, made the statement in a court filing on Thursday. He said the agency reported the incident to U.S. Park Police on June 9, and the police report indicated damage “including a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material”. Approximately 70 fence post tops were also thrown into the pool, according to the filing.
The Context of the Controversy
Lands’ statement came as part of a lawsuit filed by the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a nonprofit seeking to halt the Trump administration’s work on the project. The filing is the first public record detailing how the pool may have been damaged after the renovation was substantially completed.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed unidentified vandals for a “350-foot gash” in the liner and other problems with the pool. He told reporters earlier this week that “sick people” had used razors and box cutters to slice portions of the lining and claimed “multiple individuals” had been arrested The Interior Department said there have been seven arrests, seven federal citations, and 18 police reports filed, but did not specify the charges or identify anyone cited.
However, government documents obtained by The New York Times show that while National Park Service workers found cuts in sections of foam between the pool’s expansion joints, those cuts were unrelated to the “American flag blue” coating that is now peeling, or to the algae that has turned the pool green. The cause of the cuts was unclear, and the documents did not make any allegations about how they were made.
The Troubled Renovation
Trump pledged to beautify the century-old Reflecting Pool before the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations, directing the bottom to be painted a color he called “American flag blue”. The 2,000-foot-long basin was drained and a tinted, plastic-like liner was installed to waterproof and protect the concrete pool surface.
But after the site was restored, its water was plagued by an algae bloom, and pieces of the new coating appeared to be peeling off the bottom. The pool has largely cleared in recent days after devices called nanobubblers infused ozone into the water to kill algae and bacteria.
The Investigation and Repairs
The U.S. Park Police posted surveillance footage Wednesday evening, asking for help “identifying the individual depicted here in connection with a Destruction of Government Property investigation” . The grainy, 30-second video appears to show a person kneeling down, reaching into the pool, and removing something from the water.
Among those accused of vandalism is David Carter Hearn, 67, a three-time Olympian as a canoeist, who was arrested on Friday after reaching into the pool to touch a strip of peeling blue paint. Hearn denies the charge, saying he was “just a curious, concerned citizen”.
In his statement, Lands said the park service plans to begin draining the Reflecting Pool following Independence Day celebrations to conduct repairs, including assessing and repairing any damage to the lining.
The Bottom Line
The National Park Service has confirmed in a court filing that the liner of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC was cut with a sharp knife or razor on June 9, and about 70 fence post tops were thrown into the pool. President Trump has blamed vandals for the damage, but internal documents show the cuts were unrelated to the peeling blue coating and algae bloom that have plagued the $16 million renovation project. The pool will be drained for repairs after July 4.
