Officials from the National Park Service reported that the liner at the base of Washington D.C.’s Reflecting Pool was sliced with a sharp knife or razor earlier this month.
Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the National Park Service, stated in a Thursday court filing that U.S. Park Police responded to a June 9 incident involving the pool’s liner, which damaged the foam sealant installed during a recent multi‑million‑dollar rehabilitation.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump accused vandals of creating a roughly 300‑foot gash in the pool and claimed that fertilizer had been poured into the water.
During a CBS News interviewexternal the president was pressed for evidence of the slit, which he said would be presented in court.
In the filing, Lands noted that the Park Police report described damage that included a cut caulk over the foam sealant—made with a sharp knife or razor—and the destruction of delaminating surface material.
The report also noted that roughly seventy fence‑post tops had been tossed into the pool.
However, the filing does not specify when the damage took place nor identify any suspects.
The statement appears in a court filing that is part of a lawsuit brought by a nonprofit group aiming to halt the Trump administration’s work at the site.
It also represents the first public record describing how the pool might have been damaged following completion of the rehabilitation project.
