Trump’s sycophants continue to amplify the president’s detached version of reality.
On Monday, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox News that vandals were partly responsible for damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“The blue liner, 99.7 percent of the liner, was done perfectly. There was vandalism in spite of what everybody says,” Burgum said. “The clear evidence of that, that there was vandalism,” he added.
Federal prosecutors previously concluded that the damage resulted from a flawed installation and moved to dismiss the vandalism charges.
Burgum did not clarify what the “clear evidence” he referred to is.
President Trump has been unrelenting in his stance that vandals caused the damage, lashing out at his handpicked U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, whose office dismissed the case.
Trump has said he is “very disappointed” with the federal prosecutor and called her decision to drop the charges against former Olympian David Hearn “stupid” and a “terrible mistake”.
The New York Times reported that Pirro privately called Burgum an “incompetent liar” over the reflecting pool controversy, and accused him of intentionally misleading the president to shield himself from criticism.
Recent repair efforts have exposed just how shoddy the original construction job was. A video shared on social media captured workers pulling up “chunks” of loose blue sealant as they power-washed the pool basin.
Burgum continued to praise Trump’s construction efforts to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.
“Again, kudos to President Trump. Everything that he’s done around D.C.—anyone that lives here, anyone that visits here, a record close to 40 million visitors from the U.S. and around the world as part of our 250th,” he said.
“And I think everyone will tell you the National Mall, all these circle parks, all of the monuments, which reflect our incredible heritage and the incredible extraordinary nature of our country, have never looked better, and President Trump won’t rest until it’s perfect.”
