Trump admits ‘contractor error’ damaged Reflecting Pool, still blames Olympian

US President Donald Trump admitted that the reflecting pool had “some contractor error” during the rennovation, to meet the deadline for a July 4 reopening, however he continued to accuse the former Olympian David Hearn of vandalising the landmark, despite charges against him being dropped.

“There was substantial damage to the Reflecting Pool, also but, unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We are working on the Pool, and it will reopen shortly. 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.”

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Trump in his post claimed that there was “a highly credible witness” who saw the Olympian vandalise the pool “in broad daylight” by “ ‘violently’ ripping and tugging at the Pool’s somewhat delicate coating.” He also added that the National Park Service employee has testified, and shared a screenshot of the text. He added that this employee’s testimony was provided to Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia.Trump has been pushing Pirro to backtrack on its move to drop the charges against people accused of vandalising the pool.

The Olympian David Hearn was arrested on June 19, and later indicted on one charge of destruction of property of $1,000 or more on July 2 and pleaded not guilty a week later, according to D.C. Superior Court.

Trump’s post came a day after he posted two photos of alleged vandalism to the pool area on Truth Social. The images appear to show graffiti and peeling of the pool’s coating.