June 24, 2026 — 11:47amWashington: Surveillance cameras and lighting have been installed at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington to ward off vandals, as US President Donald Trump announced six people were arrested for damaging the monument – which must now be drained.At least nine camera sets were affixed to poles surrounding the pool on Tuesday (US time), along with separate night lights, and security was beefed up, with dozens of National Guardsmen, US marshals and Park Police on patrol when this masthead visited. At least one wore a Homeland Security Investigations vest.National Guard members patrol the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool following reports of vandalism.AP Photo/Mark SchiefelbeinThe Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has suffered a string of problems since Trump’s controversial decision to paint it blue.BloombergTrump’s $US16 million ($23 million) renovation project aimed to turn the pool a brilliant “American-flag blue” ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations. But it has attracted immense scrutiny after an algal bloom turned the water green and the new paintwork began peeling off.The president says this is due to vandalism. “Somebody went in with a knife and cut it. They cut it up good,” he said on Tuesday. “They cut a 250-, 350-foot slit in the form of lots of little slits.”On social media, Trump said the cut was “actually numerous slashes over a very long 350-foot length”, made by a sharp knife or razors. “It was purposefully and criminally done, and somebody had to work very hard, probably in the dark of night, to create such a condition.”A worker cleans debris and algae from the pool this week.BloombergChipped paint and algae in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump says the water will have to be at least partially drained.BloombergBut the Trump administration is under pressure to provide evidence that the damage was caused by vandals rather than shoddy construction work by contractors with connections to Trump, who were awarded the job without a tender process.On Monday, Trump directed reporters to the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior. “They’ll show it to you,” he said. “But I saw it – they cut it very violently.”Neither office responded to requests from this masthead on Tuesday, nor did the office of the Trump-appointed district attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro.Workers cleared algae from the pool over the weekend.NYTTrump confirmed that at least some of the water in the 619-metre pool would have to be drained, which would take place either immediately before or after Independence Day celebrations on July 4.The pool – which Trump delights in saying is longer than various skyscrapers are tall – sits between the Lincoln Memorial and the World War II memorial in Washington’s National Mall.It attracts millions of visitors a year, and public interest has spiked amid the current restoration controversy – with tourists, locals, reporters and other interested parties flocking to the pool on Tuesday.One man, who wore a cowboy hat adorned with American flags and the faces of Trump and Vance, got into an altercation with The Good Liars – a comedic duo filming at the pool – after he insisted the water was now so clean he would drink it.Trump showed off a chart comparing the length of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with various skyscrapers.AP Photo/Alex BrandonDucks in the pool this week. An environmental group called on the US Fish and Wildlife Service to investigate after a duckling carcass was seen floating in the algae-filled pool, and two other ducks were found dead nearby.Bloomberg“If they allow me, I’ll drink it,” the man said, approaching nearby National Guard troops. The comedians urged him not to drink the water for his own safety. He accused them of hating America and ended the interview.The pool renovation – a major preoccupation of Trump’s lately – has been besieged by problems. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that park rangers documented as early as June 9 that there were “holes, cracks and peeling caulking in parts of the pool”, even as administration officials described the pool as pristine.The algal bloom began mid-June, though it has now been largely contained after workers pumped hydrogen peroxide into the water and then vacuumed out the dead algae, which this masthead saw being pumped into nearby drains. But problems with the peeling paint subsequently came to the fore.Green water is pumped out into a nearby drain.AP Photo/Mark SchiefelbeinContracts worth $US14.7 million for the paint job and supplemental work were awarded without a tender to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a company that previously renovated a pool at one of Trump’s golf courses, and which had no prior federal contracts. The Times first reported the arrangement.Another contract worth $US1.7 million was awarded to Greenwater Services to install a filtration system. The company is owned by John Cafaro, an Ohio-based Trump donor who owns property near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach, Florida.Cafaro told Youngstown, Ohio newspaper The Vindicator that the pool turned green because his technology worked and “killed the algae in the pipes” and flushed it into the water. He said Trump had nothing to do with the contract.A pedestrian was detained for alleged disorderly conduct next to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday.BloombergFederal law enforcement officers walk along the pool edge on the weekend.AP Photo/Jon Elswick“I would never talk to him about it,” Cafaro told the paper. “He’s a friend and you don’t do things to put friends in awkward positions.”Regardless of the true cause of the cracked paintwork, multiple individuals have been detained at the site. One, three-time US Olympic canoeist Davey Hearn, said he was arrested on Thursday and held for five hours after fishing a piece of loose coating out of the pool. He said he did not do any damage.Another man was filmed and photographed on Monday being led away from the pool by police officers. He later identified himself to The Guardian as Christian Miles, and said he was charged with violating federal obscenity laws for swearing at state troopers.A World Cup soccer fan carries an American flag around the pool on Tuesday.AP Photo/Jon ElswickFencing was erected near the pool on Tuesday.AP Photo/Jon ElswickThe new surveillance cameras are installed at each end of the pool and at certain midway points. According to entertainment news website TMZ, which spent much of Tuesday reporting from the pool, the cameras feature “real-time tracking, intrusion detection, HD monitoring, strobe lights, automated spotlights and [a] loud, talk-down horn speaker”.This masthead also witnessed new fencing being erected near the pool. However, law enforcement personnel said it related to coming 250th anniversary events and would not immediately restrict public access to the Reflecting Pool.Joe Switzer, who was visiting from St Louis and wearing a “USA250” cap, told this masthead the apparent pool vandals were “weak, weak, unpatriotic people” who should be prosecuted with the full force of the law.“Mr Trump is doing a great job as the president of the greatest country in the world,” he said. “He’s making [the pool] look great again, like he’s doing with America. It was full of algae and it was ugly. Something did need to get done.”Switzer was not bothered by the increasing price tag. Trump initially said the cost of the restoration would be just $US1-2 million but it has now blown out to at least $US16.4 billion, with more repair work to come.“He’s spent a few million dollars on it – in the scope of things that’s nothing for the size the pool and the beauty it gives to Washington DC,” Switzer said. “It’s money well spent. It looks great and it’ll only get better.”Cammie Grant, who was visiting from Denver, brought her sons to the pool to see first-hand what the drama was all about. “It looks blue, it looks clear from what we can see … it looks good,” she said.“I don’t think the recent controversy should play into where we are right now. We need to celebrate our 250th anniversary, we need to reflect on our forefathers.”Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.From our partners