Democrats asked the Interior Department’s watchdog to probe whether employees withheld evidence from federal prosecutors that recent renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool were botched to back White House claims it was vandalized.
The inquiry follows a bombshell decision by U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News host appointed by President Donald Trump, to drop several vandalism lawsuits after her investigators discovered evidence that the administration’s $16 million renovation of the pool failed due to “a rushed and flawed installation process.”
The move, which pointed to Interior officials for failing to disclose key evidence, flouted Trump’s repeated claims that saboteurs slashed the pool liner with box cutters and has become a point of contention within the administration.
In a Wednesday letter to Interior’s Deputy Inspector General Caryl Brzymialkiewicz, Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, requested an investigation into whether administration officials knowingly misled Justice Department lawyers in the case.
