{"id":4444,"date":"2026-08-05T20:09:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4444"},"modified":"2026-08-05T20:09:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T20:09:53","slug":"demands-grow-for-facts-on-how-trumps-reflecting-pool-lie-was-cooked-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4444","title":{"rendered":"Demands grow for facts on how Trump’s Reflecting Pool lie was ‘cooked up’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

On Tuesday, following the dramatic collapse of President Donald Trump\u2019s case against Olympian David Hearn and others accused of vandalising the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, top Senate Democrats on two committees that oversee the Interior Department demanded that the agency\u2019s inspector general investigate how the vandalism lie was \u201ccooked up\u201d in the first place.<\/p>\n

Read more Top agency begging for more help as Trump fiasco bleeds cash<\/a><\/p>\n

According to exclusive reporting by the Washington Post<\/u>, \u201cThe Interior Department had publicly blamed damage to the pool\u2019s new liner on \u2018vandals,\u2019 a claim echoed by Trump and prosecutors who pressed charges against several people. The Justice Department on Friday said that Interior officials did not share relevant internal information that indicated the problems were due to contractors\u2019 mistakes<\/u> and has dropped the cases.\u201d Now Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) of the Environment and Public Works and the Energy and Natural Resources committees, respectively, called for an \u201cimmediate investigation\u201d into whether Interior Department officials misled the president about the cause of the damage. <\/p>\n

\u201cNumerous questions remain: How was the vandalism lie cooked up? How did it get to President Trump\u2019s desk? Or did it originate from the White House?\u201d Whitehouse and Heinrich wrote to the inspector general\u2019s office. In the letter, they demand to know \u201cwhat employees of the Department of the Interior knew \u2014 and when they knew it \u2014 regarding the peeling of the coating and other engineering issues at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.\u201d While Trump had been vocal about his demands for the prosecution of Hearn and others accused of vandalism, the Senators noted that the Interior\u2019s own documentation acknowledged the damage was caused by \u201ca rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Insider reveals Trump \u2018Stockholm Syndrome\u2019 gripping the GOP<\/a><\/p>\n

As the letter mentions, Trump has repeatedly declared that vandals had cut a 250-foot-gash \u2014 at times increasing that number to 350 feet \u2014 using a \u201cvery sharp knife or razors,” even though the drained pool later showed no evidence of this. And even after the Department of Justice found that the Interior knew the damage was caused by faulty installation, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum continued to push Trump\u2019s already debunked claim, tweeting, \u201cThe evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Post, \u201cA spokesman for the inspector general declined to comment on the letter. The inspector general, which is intended to be an independent watchdog of the agency\u2019s actions, is not bound to open an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more America First revolts after Trump welcomes Alan Dershowitz to MAGA<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, following the dramatic collapse of President Donald Trump\u2019s case against Olympian David Hearn and others accused of vandalising the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, top Senate Democrats on two committees that oversee the Interior Department demanded that the agency\u2019s inspector general i…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDemands grow for facts on how Trump's Reflecting Pool lie was 'cooked up' - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=4444\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Demands grow for facts on how Trump's Reflecting Pool lie was 'cooked up' - 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