President Donald Trump blamed ABC reporter Jonathan Karl and vandals for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s peeling seal and algae growth after the Trump administration’s $15 million renovation.The pool turned bright green from an algae bloom following the installation of “American flag blue” coating at the bottom of the pool. In an effort to combat the algae growth, National Park Service workers dumped bottles of hydrogen peroxide into the water. Shortly after, the coating at the bottom of the pool began to peel.“We’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool, which sits between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed. No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work.”
The president then mentioned a specific reporter he had in mind.“Lightweight ABC Reporter, Jonathan Karl, was seen sticking his hand into the Pool, and trying to rip the rubber off of the surface,” Trump continued. “The algae is 75% gone, and the condition will soon be completely remedied, and the area that was vandalized, fortunately, is just a small area of damage, and will be fixed early next week.”
