The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., is facing severe issues with bright green algae blooms and peeling paint just weeks after its renovation. President Donald Trump has claimed that vandals deliberately slit the bottom of the pool. However, not long ago, Trump himself said that a knife could not cut the bottom of the pool after the renovations. CNN’s Kaitlan Collins highlighted the conflicting claims.
Kaitlan Collins revisits Donald Trump’s words about reflecting pool
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins highlighted President Donald Trump‘s contradictory claims about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. She did so after algae blooms, peeling paint, and dead ducks overshadowed the celebration surrounding the renovated pool.
Trump has since claimed that the renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was vandalized. There has been no public evidence supporting that claim so far.
On CNN‘s The Source With Kaitlan Collins, the host highlighted the President’s earlier remarks that the pool was so well made that even a knife could not cut through it. “This will last for at least 50 years. You’ll never have a leak,” Trump said in a clip that Collins played. “It’s very strong. You couldn’t, if you had a knife, I don’t want to give anybody ideas. If you had a knife, you can’t even cut it. So strong, so powerful, it’s like powerful rubber. It is beautiful. Sealed.”
Collins also played a more recent clip of Donald Trump. In it, the President can be seen telling reporters that vandals had done some horrible things to the pool. “Somebody went in with a knife and cut it. They cut it up good. And then they cut it 200- 350-foot slip in the form of lots of little slips, a real horrible stuff,” he said in the other clip.
With the two clips, as well as Trump’s Truth Social post about the alleged vandalism, Collins pointed to the apparent contradiction in his statements. “That’s what the president argued today,” she said. “There are not pictures or video from the Interior Department officials, or the Park Police, showing someone making a cut in the pool.”
She further provided a report from The New York Times, which showed government documents that revealed there was no indication that peeling paint and algae blooms were caused intentionally.
Originally reported by Sourav Chakraborty on Mandatory.
