At least five people have been arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall.
Among those arrested was former U.S. Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn, with five other individuals receiving citations, according to a Trump administration official.
Hearn was reportedly detained for five hours prior to his arrest, after touching a piece of detached coating from the monument.
President Trump Affirms 10-Year Sentences Will Be Enforced
President Donald Trump took to social media to accuse the alleged “vandals” of tampering with the pool.
“They took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, additionally accusing the “vandals” of pouring “corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool.”
In a subsequent post, President Trump asserted “that there is a 10-year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things - Which will be fully enforced!”
Amid the arrest announcements, President Trump also confirmed that “work will begin immediately” towards fixing the monument.
Reflecting Pool Scheduled Repairs Weeks After $14.7 Million Renovation
According to Washington-based WTOP Radio, the DC Water authority has issued a permit to drain the 2,000-foot-long (609-meter) rectangular pool to facilitate repairs.
The pool’s new maintenance comes a few weeks after its $14.7 million renovation was completed.
Since President Trump’s announcement of the renovation’s completion on June 6, 2026, peeling paint and algae growth have sprawled along the monument.
Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the company responsible for the renovation project, assured that the areas that required repairs made up "a very small part of the massive 7-acre (2.83-hectare) project, and do not indicate a failure of the liner."
Atlantic Industrial Coatings said that it would fix the monument as part of its warranty, according to WTOP.
Green Water Solutions was also awarded a $1.7 million no-bid government contract for the algae removal.
