Trump lays out new details on Reflecting Pool ‘vandals’

President Trump on Wednesday went into greater detail about how he believes vandals were the cause of the damage to the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and nearby grass.

The president has repeatedly claimed that vandalism resulted in the bottom layer of the pool peeling, algae growth and destruction of grass on the National Mall.

“They went down with probably a box cutter or a very sharp razor or some kind to a knife, and they cut, and then they started ripping it up,” he said while meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office. “You know why? Because they’re sick people.”

Trump said some water will be released from the pool to fix the ripped parts, adding it could be before or after July 4.

“These people should go to jail for a long time,” he said, adding that it’s “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

Trump had previously speculated that fertilizer was poured in, causing the algae.

“Around the reflecting pool we have a huge field of grass,” he said. “They poured acid on the grass, the same people I guess.

“It killed, you know, acid........

© The Hill