Trump Refuses Justice Department’s Verdict Over the Reflecting Pool Drama, Continues to Claim That It Was a Case of Vandalism
A crack in the household?
For several weeks, Donald Trump had been claiming that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool had been vandalized, with the main suspects allegedly being members of the “radical left.” The Justice Department has now dismissed such claims, but Trump doesn’t appear to agree with their conclusion.
Shortly after their announcement, Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account and posted a strongly worded message expressing his disagreement, emphasizing that he still believes the damage to the pool was mainly caused by unknown vandals.
Donald Trump puts up a post disagreeing with the findings of his own Justice Department
On August 1, 2026, CNN reported that the Justice Department had concluded that issues with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool resulted from flawed renovation rather than vandalism. The source also stated that, as a result of the verdict, the Department had declared the $14 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool was “hasty and botched.” The article also confirmed that the Justice Department is dropping the criminal case against former Olympian David Hearn, who was accused of vandalizing the property.
Responding to this, the same day, Trump posted on Truth Social, saying, “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Piro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM, that included the grass, which had a big 86 47 emblazoned in giant letters on it, and other elements of the surrounding area.”
Adam Kinzinger has been on Trump’s toes regarding the Reflecting Pool incident
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger has long been a critic of President Donald Trump and often calls him out on his behavior. He continues this pattern with the Lincoln Reflecting Pool. On X, he has been repeatedly attacking Trump and the MAGA crowd over the pool issue, especially after the verdict was issued, stating that it was not vandalized but suffered from renovation flaws.
Speaking of the Reflecting Pool, the White House lashed out at Jim Acosta after he debunked Trump’s vandalism claims.
On August 1, 2026, while sharing a post by @RonFilipkowski claiming that Trump and his MAGA allies lied about the Reflecting Pool, Kinzinger wrote, “Absolute lying liars,” noting that Fox News would never cover the story. Also on the same day, in another post sharing CNN’s report on the verdict, Kinzinger wrote, “Hey MAGA,” followed by finger-pointing emojis at the article.
(featured image: White House Gallery)
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