Donald Trump claims vandals poured green algae in | Political News

In a speech to troops in North Dakota, President Donald Trump expanded on his declare that “vandals” had sabotaged the Reflecting Pool in an ongoing drama about the monument’s maintenance, blaming his predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and ranting about alleged pro-algae protestors.

“Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? Barack Hussein Obama spent tens of millions of dollars trying to fix it, and it was a disaster. Sleepy Joe Biden spent millions of dollars trying to fix it, and he was unable to do it, but we did it, and it works beautifully. It’s a beautiful… we got rid of the algae which they put in. They put in algae. Who the hell put in algae? They had a couple of people with signs, protect the algae. Can you believe this? This, this world has gone crazy,” the president said.

While it’s unclear who Trump blames for this, it likely goes back to comments from two days ago, where the president claimed that the algae bloom was caused by deliberate sabotage after a senior National Park Service (NPS) official said a liner along the base of the pool was “cut with a sharp knife or razor” after it was put in.

“We have the reflecting pond which we did the best job of all, and they got here in with box cutters and they cut it up, but it is working superb. And they let a little water out, we’re gonna redo it a little bit. We fixed it up after 100 and, assume of it, it was 1922 that it got here about, and from the day it was constructed, it leaked. From the day it was constructed, it did not work,” Trump added.

Trump continued to reminisce and accuse, “But when it did, when they’d water, it was stunning. It mirrored Washington, the Washington Monument. It mirrored Lincoln in Washington. Think of it, how stunning, how stunning, and these people went in and cut it up, and they acquired caught. We’ll see what occurs with them, but they acquired caught, but they put a big gash, 350 ft long.”

“Think of that, 350-foot gash along the facet of this very costly materials. But it we’ll have it all, it is already good. We need to have it accomplished for July 4th, and it was accomplished on July 4th, and it is, working proper now, but we’ll let a reward out. We’ll repair it up in a short time, Doug, and it’s going to be just as good, but we have now for the first time,” he concluded.

According to a National Park Service filing, the damage includes “a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material,” with “approximately 70 fence post tops […] thrown” into the water.

Plans to drain the pool again and reapply the blue coating to the bottom have pushed costs far beyond Trump’s earlier estimate of $2 million. His administration now says leak-prevention work and achieving the deeper blue look he wanted will cost about $16 million.

In recent weeks, the pool has turned a bright green due to the algae bloom, with chunks of blue coating and dead ducklings reported floating on the surface. In another rambling, stream-of-consciousness Truth Social post — a style that’s become a hallmark of Trump’s second term — he blamed the damage on “Criminal, Radical Left Vandals, people that truly hate our Country.”

The no-bid Reflecting Pool contract was awarded by the federal government to Green Water Solutions, an Ohio-based company led by CEO JJ Cafaro, a twice-convicted felon. Cafaro previously pleaded guilty to bribing a former congressman and making unlawful campaign contributions.

A staunch Trump loyalist, Cafaro contributed $250,000 to Trump’s 2024 campaign and is also his neighbor, living near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.