Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appeared on CNN on July 5 to address reports about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He pushed back against suggestions of construction failures and emphasized evidence of vandalism instead.
The $14.8 million restoration project, authorized by President Donald Trump, fixed a leak that had drained 45,000 gallons of water daily from the 1922 landmark. Burgum told anchor Dana Bash that floating material was not paint but an industrial liner installed in multiple layers.
He stated that box cutters were used to damage the liner and that seven people had been arrested. Federal prosecutors charged former Olympic canoeist David Hearn with pulling away about two square feet of the material, while U.S. Park Police filed 14 vandalism reports and issued five federal citations.
Burgum noted that a fence around the pool over the July Fourth weekend was for fireworks safety, not repairs. He added that daily testing shows the water remains safe after treatment with a hydrogen peroxide system.
The secretary criticized media focus on temporary algae while overlooking other incidents, including pro-Hamas graffiti on nearby monuments.
