President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that a new "highly credible witness" had come forward in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool case in a wild Truth Social post.
"ALERT: A National Park Service career employee, a highly credible witness, saw David Hearn (ActBlue) in broad daylight vandalize the Reflecting Pool by 'violently' ripping and tugging at the Pool’s somewhat delicate coating," Trump wrote. "The National Park Service employee provided this witness testimony to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in early July, as seen below," referring to a photo of the testimony he shared.
The post was made at a time when the president is trying to revive the vandalism case against Hearn. Last week, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped the case, citing a lack of evidence. Trump was furious at Pirro, and reporting indicates she is on thin ice in the administration.
Trump has since lashed out at Pirro, saying she "folded like an umbrella" by dropping the case. He has also tried to publicly pressure her into reviving the prosecution.
However, Trump's new claim that the Park Service noted the pool had been "vandalized" seems to undercut public reporting. CNN revealed internal communications from the National Park Service last week that made "no mention of any vandalism" in the Reflecting Pool, as Trump claimed in his post.
Trump also tied the vandalism case to other prosecutions his administration is pursuing.
"Numerous other events took place, including using an acid-like material on the just-installed grass adjoining the Pool," Trump wrote. "On it were written the letters, '86 47,' a phrase probably gotten from James Comey. There was substantial other damage to the Reflecting Pool, also but, unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself."
"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," Trump added. "Security cameras have been, and are being, installed. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
