CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins directly challenged President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims that his renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was vandalized, citing a lack of evidence from official sources. On Tuesday's edition of "The Source With Kaitlan Collins," she played a clip of Trump boasting last month about the durability of the pool's controversial, multimillion-dollar renovations, where he claimed a knife couldn't damage it.
Trump's Boastful Claims Contradicted
In the clip, Trump said, "This will last for at least 50 years. You'll never have a leak. It's very strong. You couldn't, if you had a knife — I don't want to give anybody ideas. If you had a knife, you can't even cut it. So strong, so powerful, it's like powerful rubber. It is beautiful. Sealed." Collins then juxtaposed this with a clip of Trump telling reporters Wednesday that defacers did "real horrible stuff" to the new "American flag blue" lining, without providing any evidence. Trump claimed, "Somebody went in with a knife and cut it. They cut it up good. And then they cut it 200-350-foot slip in the form of lots of little slips, a real horrible stuff." He made similar claims in a Tuesday Truth Social post.
Collins Provides Proof, Trump Does Not
Collins quickly refuted Trump's mixed messaging, providing proof where the president did not. "That's what the president argued today," she said after the footage played. "There are not pictures or video, from the Interior Department officials, or the Park Police, showing someone making a cut in the pool." She further cited reporting from The New York Times, which obtained government documents revealing no indication that peeling paint and algae blooms were caused intentionally.
Trump's Social Media Posts and Repairs
Collins noted that Trump's Tuesday Truth Social post stated the pool would be partially drained "either immediately before or after the Fourth of July" for repairs. In that same post, Trump claimed six people were arrested and seven cited "for the damage they did to our Country's now beautiful Reflecting Pool." Collins took a dig at the president, noting he had posted about the Reflecting Pool four times since 8:00 p.m. the previous night, almost as many as his posts about Iran that week.
Collins' fact-checking came after a HuffPost reporter who walked around the pool Monday did not spot a gash. Trump followed up his Wednesday Truth Social post by sharing an image supposedly showing the pool before it was recently refilled, writing, "This is the hard rubber surface — No Paint — Before the Vandals cut and pulled it apart!"
