By Lydia Wheeler and Philip Wegmann
WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration stepped up its law enforcement presence at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday, as the White House made new claims that vandalism was the chief cause of problems at the renovated site.
President Trump in the Oval Office said he had photographic proof of someone cutting a 350-foot gash into the pool's bottom coating, but he and others in the administration have provided few details to support those claims and no gash that large was visible earlier in the day.
"I saw it," Trump told reporters. "They cut it very violently."
The president and other officials began making vandalism claims over the weekend, after problems at the reflecting pool appeared to be getting worse, with visible tears in the pool's new flooring and algae blooming despite cleanup efforts.
Five individuals have been arrested for vandalism, and five more were issued federal citations, an Interior Department spokesman said midday on Monday. No public records were immediately available.
A White House spokeswoman declined to provide The Wall Street Journal with copies of the police reports, citing ongoing investigations. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro in Washington said her office had received only a handful of citations and was reviewing them.
The administration spent more than $16 million to resurface the basin of the pool with an "American Flag" blue color coating and make other upgrades. Within days of the pool's reopening earlier this month, algae blooms had already turned it bright green. National Park Service crews dumped hydrogen peroxide into the water last week and then pieces of the new flooring started breaking loose as crews began vacuuming the pool floor.
Trump told reporters on Monday that the contractor who resurfaced the pool wasn't to blame for its current condition. The government awarded the pool resurfacing contract to Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings without a full bidding process.
The developments have set off a wave of allegations and counter-allegations about who or what is to blame.
Onlookers have flocked to the pool -- and a growing range of officers, too. After a young woman knelt down and reached her hand into the pool Monday, she was quickly approached by a National Park Service official. Park Police, a U.S. Marshal and National Guard members soon joined in. She appeared to be issued a citation, but declined to discuss it when approached by a reporter.
One officer could be heard telling her he didn't believe her claim that she didn't know she couldn't touch the water. "If you do it again, you'll be arrested," the officer said.
Among others patrolling the pool was a deputy sheriff from Sarpy County, Neb., who said he was among the law-enforcement volunteers in the nation's capital for celebrations of America's 250th anniversary. Officials also have added new mobile surveillance cameras on site. Cameras stand at either end of the pool and solar paneled lighting stations are spread out on the sidewalk along the pool's edge.
With July 4 approaching, the administration is rushing to redo a project in which Trump has taken a strong personal interest. He said over the weekend that the pool will likely need to be drained for repairs.
It appears the administration began making plans to do so soon after the water first turned green. A spokeswoman for D.C. Water said Monday that the National Park Service requested a temporary permit on June 16 to discharge the water from the reflecting pool into a sewer that flows to a wastewater treatment facility.
On Monday evening, Trump posted on social media an image of a protester dressed in a frog costume holding a sign that said, "First They Came for the Algae."
"Here is another example of a crazy pro-algae (likely paid) protestor," Trump wrote.
Write to Lydia Wheeler at lydia.wheeler@wsj.com and Philip Wegmann at philip.wegmann@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 22, 2026 19:30 ET (23:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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