Trump shifts his tone slightly in Reflecting Pool saga

It’s Monday. We made it to August recess!

Trump admits to ‘contractor error’ in Reflecting Pool

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OK, so there ~may~ have been some contractor error:

President Trump appears to be softening on his vandalism claims being the sole reason for the botched Reflecting Pool project. He acknowledged on Sunday there was “some contractor error” in the painting and renovation.

“As with many jobs, there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening, but it was a very small area of this massive Pool, and was relatively inconsequential,” Trump said.

Though, he is still blaming the former Olympian for vandalism: Trump claimed that a National Park Service “career employee, a highly credible witness,” saw Olympian David Hearn “in broad daylight vandalize the Reflecting Pool by ‘violently’ ripping and tugging at the Pool’s somewhat delicate coating.”

Keep in mind that the charges against Hearn have been dropped.

Want to see what the Reflecting Pool looks like these days?: 📸 Here are photos

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BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE REFLECTING POOL SAGA:

The New York Times published an investigation of what went wrong in the project to renovate the national landmark.

How it began: A Trump Organization hospitality manager went to Las Vegas to talk to vendors. The president wanted this project to be completed by the Fourth of July, which set them up for failure.

The Times got poetic here: “Many of the details of the saga are reported in this article for the first time. They show that the pool, which was supposed to reflect the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, became a striking reflection instead of the second Trump administration’s willingness to skirt laws, expend millions of dollars, ignore facts and punish truth tellers in service of the president’s........

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