Trump threatens serious criminal penalties for those he says ‘vandalized’ the Reflecting Pool

By Michael Williams, Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump called Monday for those he accused of vandalizing the newly renovated, and now quickly deteriorating, Reflecting Pool on the National Mall to face serious criminal charges that could result in lengthy prison sentences.

In a Truth Social post, the president lamented the state of the pool, which he said had been “Vandalized.”

“Please remember that there is a 10 year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things – Which will be fully enforced!” the president wrote on Truth Social.

While prosecutors in Washington, DC, haven’t yet formally brought charges, the Justice Department will need to decide in the coming days how aggressively it will pursue people who were arrested and cited over the weekend as the pool’s bottom blue layer was peeling off. The recent $14 million renovation is one of many architectural projects in the nation’s capital that Trump has boosted.

Meanwhile, National Guard members, Park Police and other law enforcement were present around the Reflecting Pool on Monday.

The violations cited by the US Park Police, at least initially, are misdemeanors in DC’s local Superior Court – for vandalizing, disorderly conduct or defacing public property.

But Trump’s post suggested that the cases could be charged as more serious crimes if US Attorney Jeanine Pirro decides they should be.

The US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia says it is still reviewing a handful of citations issued over the weekend but hasn’t yet brought any charges in court.

Pirro, speaking on Fox News over the weekend, said those who vandalized or tried to vandalize the pool will “face the criminal justice system in DC.”

“There are several citations that have been handed out to individuals, and these are cases that will be prosecuted to the full extent,” Pirro said. “If there are more serious products that are put into the Reflecting Pool to create more algae or a bigger problem, then we’ll consider more serious charges.”

A destruction of government property offense could be charged as a felony in federal court if the damage is pricey. That type of federal criminal charge carries a maximum fine of up to $250,000 or 10 years in prison, though maximum sentences are exceedingly rare in practice.

So far, one person, David Hearn, a former Olympic canoeist, told CNN police arrested him after he touched a flap of blue material that partially detached from the bottom of the pool, which reopened earlier this month following the multi-million-dollar renovation.

Hearn said a National Park Service worker warned him not to reach into the water before he was handcuffed by Park Police. He denied vandalizing the pool and said he was simply curious. His first court appearance is set for July 9.

A Department of Interior spokesperson told CNN that five people had been arrested for vandalism, while an additional five people were issued federal citations. Fourteen police reports have been filed for vandalism, the spokesperson said.

“The U.S. Park Police will continue to carry out their number one duty of upholding law and order in our nation’s capital,” the spokesperson added.

The Park Police didn’t respond on Monday to further inquiries, including about the identities of the people accused of vandalizing the pool.

The ongoing saga has become a sort of a political Rorschach test: For Trump supporters, the vandalism alleged by the president is the latest example of Trump opponents stopping at nothing to wreck the president’s efforts to beautify the nation’s capital.

For the president’s critics, the back-and-forth demonstrates yet another way in which Trump seems to be preoccupied with his multiple renovation projects despite the war with Iran and the resulting high prices for gas and groceries.

Lawyers for a nonprofit suing over how the administration carried out the pool renovation also told the DC judge overseeing the case that the recent algae blooms and peeling bottom reinforce the need for him to require the administration to follow certain procedural steps that they’ve been bypassing to get the renovation done quickly.

“The public is now witnessing what happens when, instead, agencies barrel ahead with ill-conceived plans in a hasty manner to meet an arbitrary deadline imposed by the White House,” the lawyers wrote in court papers filed Monday. “As Defendants determine how to get out of their self-created mess, and restore the Reflecting Pool, Defendants can and should do what the law requires: Engage with experts and the public, and make an informed decision about what is best based on the consultations mandated by the law, instead of once again rushing ahead with half-baked ideas.”

Trump’s stance on the destruction of federal property also contrasts with his pardoning of over 1,000 participants in the January 6, 2021, insurrection – including those who vandalized the US Capitol – in one of the first official acts of his second term.

In the same post on Monday the president, without providing evidence, said there was a 300-foot “gash” into the pool and “illegally placed” chemicals in the water. Trump had previously said the gash was 250 feet long.

As CNN has reported, National Park Service workers last week dumped gallons of hydrogen peroxide into the pool to help combat an algae issue that had been plaguing the body of water.

Trump also complained about a giant depiction of “8647” that was etched into a patch of grass near the Reflecting Pool earlier this month. The Trump administration has interpreted that phrase as a threat against the president’s life, while Trump opponents say it is merely meant to signal opposition to the 47th president.

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CNN’s Devan Cole contributed to this report.