RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesInterior secretary contradicted by X users after insisting that damage to the Washington landmark was not the fault of contractors, despite Department of Justice admitting otherwise in court filing
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Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has been hit with a devastating community note on X after insisting that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was damaged by vandals.
“The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool,” Burgum posted , only for his message to be amended by moderators with a footnote completely contradicting him.
“The U.S. Attorney’s office moved to dismiss the vandalism case, stating damage to the Reflecting Pool resulted from flawed contractor installation and a rush to complete the project, not vandals,” it read, linking to a Department of Justice filing with the D.C. Superior Court dismissing an earlier indictment, as well as a PBS report about it for good measure.
Jeanine Pirro , the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, filed the motion in question Friday, seeking to drop the criminal charges the DOJ had brought against Olympic canoeist David Hearn after accusing him of peeling away the pool’s new liner, admitting that it had come loose because of shoddy workmanship, not the meddling of saboteurs.
Prosecutors have since quietly dropped the charges against three other defendants .
Pirro had sought to blame Burgum’s department for the U-turn in her filing, saying it had “provided less than fulsome information at the outset of this case.”
The secretary attempted to hit back in the same post Saturday, writing that his staff had “provided the U.S. Attorney’s office expert and eyewitness testimony to the damage done by vandals and provided every piece of evidence they asked for in the requested timeline detailing each area of damage at the pool.”
Burgum was not the only person to take to social media to express their anger over Pirro’s climbdown.
On Truth Social, President Donald Trump also vented his frustration, insisting once again that anti-Trump activists were responsible for the disastrous state of the pool, which turned green earlier this summer when his $14.7 million makeover backfired and it was overrun with algae blooms.
“I disagree 100 percent with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool,” he wrote. “I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.”
Trump went on to express his fury in person Monday when, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, he said of the capital’s top federal prosecutor: “Frankly, I think she choked because the judge [D.C. Superior Court Justice Todd Edelman] was really vicious.
“Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked.
“I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. She folded like an umbrella.”
He continued: “Jeanine Pirro made a mistake. It was vandalism. We have photographs or tapes, like moving cameras, right? Where people are on the side cutting it with a box knife.
“Now, I’m not saying I was 100 percent thrilled with the contractor, but the contractor was rushing. We wanted to get it open for July 4, and we got it done. But, in addition, there was vandalism.”
The president was then asked by a journalist whether he intends to keep Pirro in her role. He did not answer the question but snapped back: “You’re fake news. Don’t ever talk again.”
The Independent has reached out to the White House and DOJ for comment.
It initially appeared likely that Trump might fire Pirro over the episode but she remains in her position for now.
However, Trump did meet with both Pirro and Burgum in private after his tirade, which in turn followed on from an angry phone call he is said to have made to Pirro over the weekend, which one insider told CNN “wasn’t pretty.”
The president is said to be “furious” with the former Fox News personality and to have felt “blindsided” by her decision to drop the case against Hearn.
The Reflecting Pool was once again the subject of ridicule on late-night TV Monday, with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon joking : “We might be asking too much of Trump to reopen the Strait of Hormuz when he can’t even reopen the pool in his backyard.”
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