Search results for "reflecting pool"

Fiasco: Trump's contractor confesses to Reflecting Pool train wreck

The New York Times reports that the contractor that renovated the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has told the Trump administration that errors in its own work and flaws in its repair plan, caused the pool’s new blue liner to peel and break loose, not vandalism.

The Times reviewed government documents showing the company took responsibility for the decay and damage to the pool liner, despite the administration’s insistence — and prosecutions —claiming the damage was done by delinquents

“President Trump has repeatedly blamed vandals wielding knives or box cutters for damage to the pool’s ‘American flag blue’ liner, even after the Justice Department dropped charges that it had brought against people accused of vandalizing the national landmark,” reports the Times. “But the documents, which have not previously been reported, make clear that the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, found problems in both the design and the execution of the renovation. The documents include Atlantic’s reports to the government as well as daily progress updates from the National Park Service over the past two months.”

Atlantic apparently held its own errors liable in an Aug. 14 report, and then provided additional detail on Sept. 2, according to documents.

The Justice Department, which had charged several people with vandalizing the pool in early July, began moving to dismiss the cases on July 31, according to the Times.

In documents, the company blamed “human oversight” in some patches of the renovation, saying workers did not apply enough chemical primer to gel the layers of the liner together. But the bigger problem, the company said, was that the repair plan itself laid out in the contract actually called for the layers of liner to include two chemicals that are incompatible.

“The chemical on top reached a temperature hotter than what the compound underneath could withstand, and the heat caused the bottom layer to blister and come loose, the documents show. The contractor said it had not expected that outcome because it was very uncommon to mix the two products in that way,” reports the Times. “The failure illustrates the consequences of the Trump administration’s rushed effort to renovate the pool this spring. In a hurry to finish the work before the nation’s 250th birthday on July 4, the government bypassed competition and gave Atlantic a no-bid contract to carry out an untested approach designed in part by the general manager of one of Mr. Trump’s golf clubs.”

The Times reports the government has agreed to pay Atlantic $14.7 million for its work, but the contractor has said the pool is under warranty and eligible for additional repair.

Regardless, the Times reports Interior Department spokeswoman Katie Martin appeared to insist vandals were to blame for the damage, saying that they had “repeatedly reached into the pool and ripped at the coating.”

In July, federal prosecutors acted on President Donald Trump’s claims of vandalism and announced the indictment former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for pulling up a piece of the liner, on a felony vandalism charge.

But in a reversal, prosecutors pushed to dismiss the charges against Hearn and three others alleged vandals.

“Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, wrote that the Interior Department had misled her staff about the extent to which the damage had stemmed from vandalism rather than a ‘botched installation,’” reports the Times.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Trump’s Reflecting Pool witch hunt takes a new turn

On Wednesday morning, attorneys for Olympian David Hearn – who has been facing charges of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool – filed a motion to dismiss the case “with prejudice,” arguing that he fears President Donald Trump may try to come after him again.

This is according to Lawfare editor Roger Parloff, who tweeted a screenshot of the motion, explaining, “Reflecting Pool defendant David Hearn, responding to Judge Jeanine [Pirro’s] conduct after filing a motion to dismiss, seeks dismissal with prejudice. Trump’s [and Secretary of the Interior Doug] Burgum’s conduct after dismissal show case’s political motivation and danger of harassment and re-prosecution.”

In the motion, Hearn’s lawyers emphasize that the case was “motivated by political considerations,” noting that both Trump and Burgum have “publicly attacked” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s decision to file for dismissal after she realized the case was groundless. Hearn’s attorneys argue that the Department of Justice has “repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to seek or reinstate criminal charges to satisfy the president, irrespective of the law or facts.” In light of “this risk of harassment and bad faith,” they requested “dismissal with prejudice,” which would close the case permanently.

Trump’s case against Hearn has blown up in spectacular fashion in recent days, after Pirro was forced to admit that the evidence was clear: the Reflecting Pool damage was caused by installation failures rather than vandals. Trump was furious with this outcome, telling reporters that she “choked” and “folded like an umbrella,” and that he was “100 percent” certain the damage was due to vandalism.

In the latest motion, Hearn’s attorneys cite a National Parks Service assessment from before the indictment that contradicts Trump’s claims, noting preexisting peeling and damage at “numerous locations throughout the pool.” The assessment suggests that vandalism was “possible,” but that it came “after initial peeling.” This has been a sticking point in the case for weeks. In mid-July, the government’s own witnesses admitted that photos of the damage were taken before Hearn touched the water, drawing into question how he could have been the culprit. He has maintained that he did touch the water and torn pool liner, but only to examine preexisting damage.

Now, Hearn’s attorneys say that “all options are on the table” when it comes to seeking recourse for his arrest. According to the Guardian, “Hearn ‘has a number of potential remedies’ after being prosecuted in connection with pool damage now attributed to faulty work by a contractor, attorney Steven Levin said in a statement. Levin added that those could include ‘civil suits, bar referrals for the prosecutors involved, request for sanctions and reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and expenses,’ and requests for investigations by various government entities, including Congress.”

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

The DOJ just blew up its own Reflecting Pool case — again

President Donald Trump’s attempt to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has spiraled into an embarrassing debacle that refuses to die. In the latest twist, the Department of Justice seems to have yet again blown its own case against former Olympian David Hearn, who was arrested on charges of vandalizing the pool.

“In a new filing,” posted All Rise News editor-in-chief Adam Klasfeld on Wednesday, “Trump DOJ reveals that there's an NPS email showing peeling due to overspray in the section of the pool relevant to the David Hearn case. It's dated June 11, more than a week before Hearn's arrest.”

Klasfeld attached a screenshot from the DOJ filing, which reads, “The email detailed that the ‘contractor stated that the peeled area was “overspray” from spraying the perimeter joint with polyurea.’ The engineer stated his ‘concern that this “overspray” along the perimeter of the pool could lead to a 1’-2’ strip that is vulnerable to peeling.’ The engineer also stated ‘[t]he polyurea liner that has peeled does not float in water, so should not be highly visible to visitors and can be vacuumed out along with sediment and algae during the normal cleaning process.’ These statements cast significant doubt that the defendant caused damage to the lining. This information — that the piece of liner peeled by the defendant was overspray, of little or no value — was first furnished to the prosecutors weeks after the grand jury indicted the defendant.”

In other words, the DOJ’s own evidence proves the damage had nothing to do with Hearn. According to Klasfeld, “Prosecutors say that the files showing the earlier peeling ‘sabotage’ their ability to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt — but also (absurdly) claim that ‘newly discovered evidence’ could rehabilitate the case later.” What’s more, he adds, “They still want dismissal without prejudice, even though their case is gutted.”

Earlier this month, Hearn’s defense team filed a motion to have the charges dismissed “with prejudice” following U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s humiliating admission that the case was groundless. Pirro requested dismissal after documentation from an Interior Department investigation contradicted the prosecution’s claims, and the motion to grant the dismissal “with prejudice” was submitted by the defense out of concerns that Trump could attempt to come after Hearn again.

It has since come out that Trump has in fact requested further charges against Hearn. While the prosecution is now arguing that the case should be dismissed without prejudice in case new evidence comes to light later, Trump’s demand for more action against Hearn supports the defense’s assertion that the case was “motivated by political considerations” and that there was a high ongoing “risk of harassment and bad faith” on the part of the president.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Trump's Reflecting Pool fiasco triggers massive White House feud

US President Donald Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has gone beyond his vision of refurbishing a site of national pride to perfection. In the past month, the reflecting pool has become yet another tool for Trump to exact political retribution against those standing in his way.

When the US$16 million job was completed in time for the July 4 celebrations of America’s 250th birthday, it was clear something was amiss.

The algae that had long plagued the pool had returned. And the sealant covering the bottom of the pool immediately began peeling.

Trump attributed the damage to vandals, and one man, David Hearn, a former Olympian, was arrested after he put his hand into the pool and examined a piece of coating that had become detached from the floor.

The Trump-appointed US attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, a former Fox News presenter, opened a full investigation. Hearn was promptly indicted for destruction of property.

Late last week, however, the case was turned on its head when Pirro moved to dismiss the charges against Hearn. Her filing stated the damage to the pool was not due to vandalism, but a “botched installation” by the contractor in a rush to complete the project before the anniversary celebration.

Trump went ballistic, accusing Pirro of “folding like an umbrella”. But the prosecutor was undeterred. This week, she dropped the charges against three other defendants accused of vandalising the pool.

And at a testy White House meeting with Trump, she held her ground, reportedly lashing out at Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for misleading the president about the evidence.

How judges and prosecutors are pushing back

The wider context here is the loyalty Trump expects and demands from his appointees and staff.

This was one of the strongest lessons he took from his first term, when Trump found himself repeatedly blocked or tightly managed by many in his inner circle, among them:

  • John Kelly, his chief of staff, who tried to keep Trump on a short leash and only lasted in the role for 17 months
  • General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who refused to send troops into US cities to quell protesters, and
  • Bill Barr, his attorney general, who told him he had definitively lost the 2020 presidential election.

In his second term, Trump has gone to extreme lengths to install Cabinet members who will be unswervingly loyal to him, as well as federal prosecutors who will follow his orders – and pursue cases against his enemies.

While Trump has maintained control over his Cabinet and largely kept the Republican Party in Congress in check, his attempts to manipulate or override the judicial system to get what he wants are increasingly being turned aside.

Consider his repeated attempts to prosecute James Comey, the former head of the FBI. A federal judge threw out the first case against Comey last year, saying Trump’s hand-picked prosecutor wasn’t lawfully appointed.

Under pressure from Trump, the Department of Justice indicted Comey again in May over a case involving seashells on a beach; Comey has requested a judge dismiss these charges, too.

Earlier this year, a grand jury also declined to indict six Democratic members of Congress, whom Trump accused of sedition after they posted a video reminding US service members they were obligated to refuse illegal orders.

In June, a Republican-appointed federal judge blocked the Trump administration from trying to subpoena Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. The judge called it a “blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand jury process”.

And last month, a Trump-appointed federal judge blocked the Department of Justice’s attempts to access the names and contact information of poll workers in the state of Georgia – part of Trump’s ongoing attempts to prove his 2020 election loss was rigged.

Trump: judges are ‘stupid people’

Trump has had far more success securing favourable rulings from the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court in his second term. According to legal experts, the court has considerably expanded the power of the presidency over the past 18 months.

Yet, the Supreme Court did not give Trump victories in two major cases this year over his tariff policy and his administration’s attempt to do away with birthright citizenship.

In the face of this growing opposition from the judicial branch, Trump has railed against judges and justices who “want to show that they’re independent”. He mocked their thinking:

‘I don’t care if Trump appointed me. I don’t care if he doesn’t make any difference to me. I’m voting against him.’ Because they want to show their independence. You know, stupid people.

Yet, this is precisely the role of the judiciary – it is meant to be one of the checks and balances in the US government. And right now, it is the independent judiciary – not Congress – that is curbing Trump’s excessive use of powers.

Trump may not continue to enjoy this imbalance of power for much longer. If the Democrats win control of the Senate and House of Representatives in the midterm elections, Congress will again provide another crucial check on his powers.

But Trump will continue to believe the reflecting pool has been vandalised, no matter what the evidence shows. And he will continue to go after his enemies, too. This may now include Pirro, who may not remain in her position for much longer.The Conversation

Bruce Wolpe, Non-resident Senior Fellow, United States Study Centre, University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Demands grow for facts on how Trump's Reflecting Pool lie was 'cooked up'

On Tuesday, following the dramatic collapse of President Donald Trump’s case against Olympian David Hearn and others accused of vandalising the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, top Senate Democrats on two committees that oversee the Interior Department demanded that the agency’s inspector general investigate how the vandalism lie was “cooked up” in the first place.

According to exclusive reporting by the Washington Post, “The Interior Department had publicly blamed damage to the pool’s new liner on ‘vandals,’ a claim echoed by Trump and prosecutors who pressed charges against several people. The Justice Department on Friday said that Interior officials did not share relevant internal information that indicated the problems were due to contractors’ mistakes and has dropped the cases.” Now Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) of the Environment and Public Works and the Energy and Natural Resources committees, respectively, called for an “immediate investigation” into whether Interior Department officials misled the president about the cause of the damage.

“Numerous questions remain: How was the vandalism lie cooked up? How did it get to President Trump’s desk? Or did it originate from the White House?” Whitehouse and Heinrich wrote to the inspector general’s office. In the letter, they demand to know “what employees of the Department of the Interior knew — and when they knew it — regarding the peeling of the coating and other engineering issues at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.” While Trump had been vocal about his demands for the prosecution of Hearn and others accused of vandalism, the Senators noted that the Interior’s own documentation acknowledged the damage was caused by “a rushed and flawed installation process, with repeated failures of the lining during the installation process, and extensive peeling of the lining throughout.”

As the letter mentions, Trump has repeatedly declared that vandals had cut a 250-foot-gash — at times increasing that number to 350 feet — using a “very sharp knife or razors," even though the drained pool later showed no evidence of this. And even after the Department of Justice found that the Interior knew the damage was caused by faulty installation, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum continued to push Trump’s already debunked claim, tweeting, “The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool.”

According to the Post, “A spokesman for the inspector general declined to comment on the letter. The inspector general, which is intended to be an independent watchdog of the agency’s actions, is not bound to open an investigation.”

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Might be time to 'rip up' Reflecting Pool after botched job: Republican

President Donald Trump demanded the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool be "fixed" starting five months ago, and one Republican commentator is saying that it might be time to simply "rip" it up.

Speaking on the CNN morning panel Friday, David Avella, chairman of GOPAC, a Republican state and local political training organization and super PAC, suggested that it might make sense to eliminate the 100-year-old Reflecting Pool altogether.

Trump's investment began with a claim that it would only cost $1.5 million to $2 million to repair. That has now ballooned to $16 million with a new contract for another company that thinks it can fix the algae problem for $2.7 million. The company's CEO told NBC Washington that they intend to fix the algae problem with chemicals, which hadn't been an option in the past, since wildlife like ducks and other birds in the former marshland use the pool.

The National Park Service and D.C. District Attorney Jeanine Pirro labeled the work on the pool as "botched" after the new "American Flag Blue" liner began to peel and float.

"Famously, the president is somebody, as you just had in your last segment, [who] loves to build things, loves to put his name on things," NOTUS national political reporter Elena Schneider explained on CNN.

"And I'm sure that he is not pleased about the fact that this is going over budget and way long," she continued. "No contractor likes to do that. But nonetheless, this is part of his M.O. of what this administration has been all about."

Host Audie Cornish said that the symbol of the Reflecting Pool, to her, has become "a rake. It's stepping on a rake. It's like [an] unnecessary cell phone, and it's costing everyone money. And none of it had to happen."

Avella claimed that presidents have been "stepping on that rake" since the pool was finished in the 1920s, though it didn't get its first overhaul until 2010-2012.

"I mean, you're looking at a Reflecting Pool that was built on the Potomac River mudflat, which shifts and you get cracks, and we have been dealing with it."

"Then fix it!" said Cornish.

"So are you advocating that we get rid of the pool. That it's been such a problem—" he asked.

Cornish cut him off to say that it almost looks like Trump is halfway there.

"Maybe it's time to rip it up," he suggested. Cornish noted the "botched job," but Avella questioned whether the problem was the contractor or if the Reflecting Pool was messed up.

Avella said that there's nothing that says the contractor who messed up can't be held accountable.

CNN contributor Lulu Garcia-Navarro brought it all back to politics, noting just how obsessed Trump is with these little projects at a time when Americans are suffering under an affordability crisis. So, spending hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars for Trump's personal interests isn't playing well.

A swimming pool expert told CNN months ago that the Reflecting Pool algae issue wasn't likely to be solved because it's so large, and any bird that uses the pool as its personal toilet would simply keep reintroducing bacteria that ultimately cause algae to grow.

The Reflecting Pool was first proposed in 1902 as a means of connecting the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. It was overhauled during President Barack Obama's administration from 2010 to 2012 to allow it to draw water from the Potomac River, rather than draining the city's water supply of the 6.75 million gallons needed to fill it. The structure was also shored up using 2,000 piles driven into bedrock because the heavy granite was sinking. At that time, a circulation and filtration system designed to reduce algae blooms was installed, but the 12-inch supply and return pipes continue to leak and break.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Money pit: Trump hires new company to fix Reflecting Pool algae

Until recently, Atlantic Industrial Coatings was handling the waterproofing and repainting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Now, a new company is taking over with a $2.7 million contract to address the algae issue, local NBC Washington reports.

President Donald Trump's Reflecting Pool disaster has become a kind of "Money Pit" satire of Washington, D.C. over the past year. The goal was to add a liner to the pool in "American Flag Blue" to eliminate the algae problems that have existed since the pool was built.

Trump initially said that the liner would cost about $1.8 million. He later described the estimate as roughly $1.5 million to $2 million, but the project’s cost ultimately rose to more than $14 million. After the pool was finished and the liner began to peel, the White House gave an additional $2 million to fix it. The cost now exceeds $16 million, according to contract records. Green Water Solutions was hired to run its nanobubble technology to clean the pool ahead of the July 4 holiday. Once they were finished, however, their equipment was removed.

The new contract will mean an additional $2.7 million to address the algae problem for a second time, government spending data shows.

“I read about it in the New York Times, and I said you know what, I can fix this problem,” said Richard Rosen, the founder and CEO of American Ag Energy, Inc. told NBC Washington.

He said that his company was one of five that were bidding on the contract to fix the algae issue.

“Our goal is to have nothing growing in the water,” Rosen said.

A longtime expert in swimming pools said he knew the culprit behind the Reflecting Pool "vandalism" that caused an ongoing algae bloom. "Swimming Pool Steve" Goodale is a second-generation pool builder with a YouTube channel dedicated to explaining aspects of swimming pools and hot tubs. Speaking to CNN in June, he explained that there's no way to fix the algae problem without using chemicals that can be dangerous to animals that use the pool.

"Well, somebody definitely planted the algae, and it was the very first bird that landed in the water," said Goodale. "You know, in an open-air environment like this, there's no stopping the algae from coming. It's going to be in the water. It's just how are you going to deal with it, knowing that it will be expected."

He suggested a multi-pronged solution: the pool must be drained and the immediate remediation would likely follow.

"It would really come down to a matter of concentration," said Goodale. "And again, we're talking about, you know, 6.5 million gallons of water or more. So, it would take an awful lot of product to get to dangerous levels of contamination here. It's why hydrogen peroxide would be commonly used for an open-air, clear water environment like this, because it is kind of the safer of the options. It's why we don't use something like chlorine, which wouldn't be as safe for the wildlife."


Rosen explained that his team has experts and engineers who have "decades of experience managing water quality in facilities around the world."

He described his team as "conducting a biological and chemistry profile of the Pool, to understand exactly where the water is coming from, what organisms are living in the water, and how the environment around the Pool impacts the water in the pool itself," the report said.

He thinks the problem stems from the water's chemical composition. Before the 2012 renovations, the National Park Service used city water to fill the pool. The new goal was to circulate the water from the Potomac River through a filtration system and into the pool to keep the use of city water to a minimum.

"I think we can do a lot of stuff for much lower cost, because we are going to focus on knowing what we’re doing,” Rosen said.

The report claimed that he's still not "overly confident," however.

“I don’t believe in anything until I actually see it work,” Rosen added.

He also swears there's nothing political about his bid for the contract.

“I don’t want any politics in this at all,” Rosen told NBC Washington. “We don’t have any political motivations here. This is really science and technology and engineering.”

From Your Site Articles

Trump Reflecting Pool lawyers just blew up their own case

Evidence presented by government prosecutors arguing against Olympian David Hearn, who stands accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, may have already blown the case. According to Lawfare senior editor Roger Parloff, evidence contained in the government’s original warrant provides obvious, photographic proof that he could not have vandalized the pool.

As Parloff posted on Wednesday, “Attys for Reflecting Pool defendant David Hearn say govt witness told govt that photos Hearn took showing damaged liner (published in WaPo, e.g.) were taken *before* he touched the water — drawing into question how he could’ve damaged it.” Parloff wrote this over a screenshot of one of the photos, which a caption says was taken just before his arrest and shows a partially detached piece of the pool liner.

So a government witness has already noted that the pictures were taken before he touched the water, and what’s more, writes Parloff, the government’s own seizure warrant for Hearn’s phone “admits that Hearn’s photos were taken before the touching.”

“In other words,” argues the defense, “Mr Hearn’s widely published photo proves that he caused no damage to the Reflecting Pool.”

This is a humiliating turn for President Donald Trump, who raged about the prosecution of alleged Reflecting Pool “vandals” who he claims caused tears in the pool liner and blooms of algae, despite providing no evidence. According to the Associated Press, “Hearn has said he reached inside the pool to examine the peeled sealant and let go of a chunk when he was told to by a park worker. He is accused of causing more than $1,000 in damage.”

“Every American should be alarmed about this prosecution,” said Hearn’s attorney after he pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Thursday. “It is not a crime to touch the Reflecting Pool.”

At the hearing, which the AP says was “packed” with spectators, “D.C. Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean did not require Hearn to be supervised by the court while he is free awaiting a trial. A status hearing was scheduled for Aug. 5. A prosecutor, Kevin Reddington, said the government wasn’t seeking any court supervision for Hearn, but just a ‘stay-away order’ without specifying in court where it wanted to keep Hearn away from. Mary Dohrmann, one of Hearn’s attorneys, urged the judge not to impose any conditions of court supervision, calling Hearn an ‘upstanding citizen and member of the community.’”

“The government’s evidence is weak,” she added.

Hearn’s attorneys have argued that the case is based on a “concocted narrative,” asserting that “this indictment reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures. The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover.”

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

Trump putting MAGA 'puppet' in charge of probe into Reflecting Pool fiasco

U.S. President Donald Trump's foes have been consistently critical of his makeover proposals for the Washington, DC area, from a White House ballroom to the Kennedy Center to a triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. And Trump is drawing scathing criticism for the damage inflicted on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Now, according to the Daily Beast, a major Trump loyalist — Project 2025 author Dennis Kirk — will likely be in charge of any possible investigation of the "Reflecting Pool fiasco."

"Donald Trump is planning to put one of his most reliably right-wing goons in charge of any eventual investigation into his botched renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool," journalist William Vaillancourt reports in the Daily Beast. "The 80-year-old president personally oversaw the $16 million project to refurbish the DC landmark, only to watch as the waters turned slimy green and the pool lining split. He quickly blamed the damage on vandalism, even though his handpicked DC prosecutor couldn't make any charges stick and passed the blame to Doug Burgum's Interior Department, which was in charge of the refurb."

Trump, Vaillancourt notes, has nominated Kirk "to run the Interior Department's Inspector General Office — the watchdog that will oversee any investigation."

In 2024, Project 2025 was the Heritage Foundation's in-depth blueprint for a second Trump administration. Trump, during the 2024 presidential race, distanced himself from the highly controversial document. But critics countered that Project 2025 was written by some of Trump's closest allies — including Kirk.

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California) is a scathing opponent of the Kirk nomination, attacking him as a "fake and fraudulent watchdog."

In an August 5 post on his website, Huffman said of Kirk, "Each and every thing this political puppet does will be in service of Donald Trump. This man helped write the Project 2025 playbook for seizing control of the federal workforce. Now, he sits inside the office charged with rooting out corruption at Interior, the department that manages our national parks, public lands, Tribal programs, and now under Trump, gold-slathered statues and a botched Reflecting Pool renovation. That same office is weighing serious ethics investigations into senior officials in this administration. It's no surprise the White House suddenly wants its own man inside the one place that Trump's cronies still have reason to fear."

Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, is lambasting the Kirk nomination as well — noting the firing of for Interior Department Inspector General Mark Lee Greenblatt.

Weiss, in an official statement, warned, "Interior's watchdog was fired, left vacant for 18 months, and is now hosting one of the architects of Project 2025. At least five investigation requests from members of Congress are sitting in that office right now, and its integrity has been compromised. Congress cannot outsource its constitutional oversight duty to an inspector general’s office taken over by the White House."

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web

The plot to protect Trump’s wounded ego is unraveling: analysis

President Donald Trump's renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been a humiliating disaster. As lawyer Norm Eisen alleged, Trump tried to save face by scapegoating his client, David Hearn, and claiming that vandals were responsible for the failed installation of the liner he decided the pool needed.

As Greg Sargent explained for The New Republic, things are about to get much worse.

Sargent spoke with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who is likely to become the new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats take over Congress after November. Raskin wants to know what happened and who lied.

“Judiciary Democrats will investigate who lied, who buried the evidence, and who decided to threaten an American citizen with prison simply to protect Trump’s wounded feelings and continuing corruption,” Raskin told Sargent. “Participants in this frame-up will be held to account.”

U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, dismissed charges against Olympian David Hearn after the government's evidence made it clear that the damage being blamed on Hearn was there before Hearn was. At one point, Trump even tried to blame ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl for "trying to rip the rubber off." Trump decided that his pool couldn't have been a failure attributed to his project. He needed someone to blame.

Sargent said, "This was surely understood by Pirro and Burgum as a command to make it true that vandalism caused the renovation’s failure."

Pirro's big press conference announcing Hearn as the new target was based on the information the Department of the Interior gave her, not based on an actual investigation by law enforcement. So, her announcement that Hearn was being indicted and that there was "tremendous evidence” of his guilt didn't come from evidence. Pirro was ultimately forced to admit that the prosecutors from the Department of the Interior collected evidence showing that the lining failures came from a "botched" installation and not individuals. It was a humiliating blow for Trump.

So, there is a larger question about how Pirro was able to secure an indictment from the Grand Jury Hearn on July 2 when there was no evidence to prove his guilt and what the Trump administration did behind the scenes to secure the indictment. Pirro blames Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, saying that he intentionally misled her office about the evidence they had.

As Sargent explained, "But under ethics guidelines, prosecutors aren’t supposed to bring indictments unless they really think the charges are supported. Shouldn’t Pirro have looked more skeptically at this “evidence” before throwing the book at Hearn?"

“The notion that they did not know that there was a botched, rushed renovation of the Reflecting Pool does not hold water,” Eisen told Sargent.

Unlike other cases where Trump has targeted someone unfairly, the case is either dropped or thrown out, and the grateful victim tries to move on with their life. That's not happening this time. Eisen and Hearn want to know what the grand jury was told to get the indictment because it clearly wasn't true. Someone had to have lied to the grand jury, and there are penalties for that.

Eisen explained that instead of dropping the case and moving on, the case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could charge Hearn again later. So, they're still fighting for Hearn's innocence, and they want to know what the grand jury was told.

Former federal prosecutor Daniel R. Alonso told Sargent, "Courts are generally very reluctant to grant access to grand jury transcripts." In this case, however, Alonso said, Hearn has "more than a colorable argument."

Eisen may be able to catch the administration in a lie that tracks back to the president himself. It would be a humiliating blow.

From Your Site Articles

A problem of Trump’s own making doomed his Reflecting Pool fiasco: NYT

A New York Times investigation has found that President Donald Trump's problems with the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are a result of his own making.

In a report posted Friday, the Times said that the pool has long been plagued with issues. In 2012, the first renovation was taking place in nearly 100 years. Even those repairs haven't been free of problems. The pool continues to leak, and algae continues to grow in the sweltering Washington environment.

Trump decided he could fix it quickly and it would be just in time for his big July 4th celebrations.

Instead of relying on the normal National Park Service planning process, the administration turned to David Schutzenhofer, a manager of Trump’s Bedminster golf club who had experience in the hospitality industry but no background in engineering or architectural qualifications.

Schutzenhofer attended a Las Vegas trade show, where he came upon companies that proposed lining the pool with blue polyurea, which could be described as “American flag blue.” It wasn't something that the Park Service had previously considered. What became obvious was that Trump's own tariffs on resins coming from China meant that the options of liners for the pool were significantly limited.

The administration handed out the no-bid contract, and the project began. All of the concerns that career officials had over the project’s risks, costs, contractor profit margin, and preservation reviews were thrown aside or downplayed altogether, the Times discovered in documents.

There were problems almost immediately. Bubbles and holes appeared in the lining while other sections began to peel. Meanwhile, the algae returned. The rushed schedule, weather delays, and flaws in the installation made things worse, prosecutors revealed in the indictment of Olympian David Hearn. Despite the signs, Trump proclaimed the lining of the pool could last “100 years” and continued promoting the success.

But then things began going south. Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum blamed "liberal" vandals, alleging that people cut the liner with a "box knife" and even put chemicals into the water to hurt Trump.

However, investigators later debunked the vandalism theory, finding no evidence of foul play. Ultimately, the rushed, defective lining had to be completely removed just weeks after the holiday event, costing taxpayers millions and leaving the historic landmark closed for months of emergency repairs.

The conspiracy quickly unraveled. Court documents later revealed that Hearn, hired as a consultant, had warned the administration about the structural failures before being scapegoated.

From Your Site Articles
@2026 - AlterNet Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. - "Poynter" fonts provided by fontsempire.com.