Political strategist and commentator Keith Edwards claimed Friday that he was paid a visit by the FBI over comments he made online – more specifically, comments about President Donald Trump’s botched $14 million restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been plagued with algae and peeling paint just days after completion.
On Friday morning, Edwards issued a plea on social media: he offered to pay anyone willing to send him a piece of the “‘American flag blue’ paint peeling off the reflecting pool,” insisting he “must have it and frame it.” He also offered to pay $86.47, a reference to the term the Justice Department cited in its criminal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, which some conservatives have interpreted as a threat to Trump's life.
Just hours later, Edwards took to social media again to provide his more than 175,000 followers on X an update.
“The FBI just showed up at my door because I tweeted about people picking up paint debris and sending it to me,” Edwards wrote Friday evening. “I asked them where's Savannah Guthrie's mom.”
Trump’s FBI has been reported to have visited the homes of other critics of the administration, including participants in the No Kings protests. The FBI has also visited Americans’ homes over social media posts critical of Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza, which countless human rights groups and a United Nations committee have labeled a genocide.
Edwards has amassed nearly 1.3 million subscribers on his political commentary YouTube channel and previously worked on Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign.