After the embarrassing flub with President Donald Trump's renovation of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, he blamed the failures on liberal "vandals." Security cameras were quickly installed to catch those responsible for slicing open the expensive liner. Those cameras are costing Americans almost $350,000.
The truth finally emerged in court after Trump's own investigators found that a "botched" installation caused the pool's liner to fail. That hasn't stopped Trump's insistence that cameras constantly monitor every movement at all construction sites around Washington so that Trump can capture the imaginary "vandals" on video, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
LiveView Technologies is behind the cameras, which recently went up at Memorial Circle, where Trump intends to build his 25-story mega-arch. The company also has a contract with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for about $3 million.
According to a post on Truth Social Monday, it appears Trump continues to believe his own story that lefties were at fault for the damage to the Reflecting Pool
“We are watching very closely, and security cameras have been installed,” Trump wrote. They aren't new; the cameras went up in June, and until recently a fence blocked tourists from the pool.
An Interior Department spokesperson agreed with the president's allegations that the cameras were needed to protect the construction projects from political actors.
“Due to an increase in vandalism by leftist activists surrounding the Reflecting Pool earlier this year, cameras were set up to ensure that no more damage is done to this historic site,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson wouldn't comment on how many cameras would be used or any other details about the contract.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calf.), the ranking member for the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees the Reflecting Pool and other federal parks, said that spending the money on the cameras was a waste.
“It’s a good example of how public agencies are just lighting taxpayer dollars on fire these days in service of Trump’s whims and lies,” said Huffman.
Huffman called for transparency about how the administration is pursuing the president’s construction projects, vowing to scrutinize agencies’ spending on Trump’s projects and their use of outside contractors if Democrats retake the House in next month’s midterm elections.
“They will answer those questions when we hold the gavels, I promise you,” he said.
Others simply don't understand the point of the cameras.
“I think there becomes a point where it’s going to be excessive,” said legal fellow Mike Fox, at the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice. “Are they really doing this because they actually need them, or are they doing this to try to score political points?”
