Lawyers for the people accused of vandalizing the Trump administration’s recently renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are arguing that the administration could be ruining evidence of the alleged damages.
George Allen Dale, a Washington attorney representing a client cited with vandalism at the pool, said the Interior Department probably undermined its own case by not preserving evidence after recently drained pool, where the Trump administration has said it will begin making repairs. Dale’s client, Cameron Thiers, said he only picked up a floating piece of the pool’s liner last month before being approached by law enforcement and cited with a misdemeanor violation.
“I wish everyone in America could see what I saw,” Dale said in an interview Tuesday about a recent visit to the pool, granted by the court. “It’s buckled. It’s cracked. It couldn’t look that bad if you tried.”
National Park Service staff were photographed Monday ripping up sections of the painted-on liner. A New York Times photographer told that paper he saw an NPS crew pulling up pieces of liner at two sections near the middle of the pool. NPS had drained the pool to assess damages and make repairs following the July 4 holiday, which had included an enormous fireworks display partly launched from around the pool.
