President Trump has found himself a new suspect in the Great Reflecting Pool Caper, and it is ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl.
As The American Tribune reported, Trump took to Truth Social to accuse "Lightweight ABC Reporter, Jonathan Karl" of sticking his hand into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and "trying to rip the rubber off of the surface" during a news segment. The video in question shows Karl reaching into the water and handling a loose piece of material while describing the condition of the pool's new coating. ABC says he was demonstrating the peeling. Trump says he was committing a crime. Somewhere in between, a very expensive paint job continues to have a very bad summer.
The whole saga started when Trump ordered the Reflecting Pool drained, resurfaced, and painted what he called "American flag blue" ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations. What was supposed to be a patriotic glow-up quickly turned into a swamp situation when the pool went bright green from an algae bloom. National Park Service workers were spotted treating the water with hydrogen peroxide, which is one way to handle algae and also one way to handle a lot of things you probably should not be putting in a national landmark.
The Interior Department credited "advanced nanobubbler technology" with killing the algae, a phrase that sounds like it was pulled from a late night infomercial. Officials also said residual algae from supply lines was part of the normal startup process after construction, which is government speak for "yeah we knew this might happen."
Then came the peeling. The new blue coating started coming off the bottom, and critics pounced. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum blamed vandals, saying people had used box cutters to carve into the pool's industrial liner. According to Fox News, Burgum said seven people had been arrested, multiple citations issued, and 18 police reports filed.
The most high profile case involves former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland. The Justice Department announced Hearn was indicted on one felony count of destruction of property for allegedly ripping blue sealant from the pool bottom on June 19th. The charge is only an allegation, and Hearn is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Going from Olympic athlete to accused pool vandal is quite the career arc.
The Associated Press reported that Burgum said the administration would not seek new bids for repair work and would stick with the same contractor. The pool was closed for the Independence Day celebration, though Burgum said that was a fireworks safety decision and not because the whole thing looked like a science experiment gone wrong.
Now Trump has dragged Karl into it, turning a standard news report into an accusation of destruction. To be clear, Karl was on camera doing what reporters do: showing the audience what something looks like up close. But in the current atmosphere where the Reflecting Pool has become a political battleground, apparently touching a loose piece of peeling material makes you a suspect.
The pool saga now includes algae blooms, peeling coatings, criminal charges, nanobubbler technology, and a sitting president accusing a White House correspondent of vandalism on live television. If someone had pitched this as a movie plot six months ago, nobody would have bought it.
Read more American news stories at: The American Tribune
