GOP senator on Trump's Reflecting Pool vandalism claims: 'He grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought'
The Hill · C · trust 56/100
Comments: by Max Rego - 08/02/26 12:35 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Max Rego - 08/02/26 12:35 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Republican Sen. John Kennedy (La.) said Sunday he is unsure whether President Trump truly believes his claims that vandals damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“I don’t know whether he really believes that, or it’s part of his political messaging, or he’s just thinking out loud,” Kennedy told host Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“You and I both know the President well,” the Louisiana Republican added. “He exists loudly, and he grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. I’m not saying he doesn’t really believe it, I just don’t know.”
In a 20-page filing , the DOJ pinned the damage to the site on a “rushed and botched installation” Atlantic Industrial Coatings carried out this spring and summer to repaint the bottom of the pool. The department also faulted the Interior Department for a “barebones” report about the incident involving Hearn.
“Specifically, the newly released documents reveal that work on installing the lining almost immediately fell behind, due to a combination of very rainy and windy weather, repeated failures of testing on the sealing of the expansion joints, and delays in obtaining sealing product at the worksite,” wrote prosecutors from the office of U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who oversees Washington, D.C.
“The rush to complete the project led to hasty and botched work that was not remediated before the project was finished and the fencing removed,” prosecutors added.
Associate Judge Todd Edelman, an appointee of former President Obama who sits on D.C.’s Superior Court, has the final say on whether to dismiss the case against Edelman — a three-time Olympic canoeist who pleaded not guilty to felony destruction of property earlier this month.
Trump said he disagreed “100%” with Pirro’s decision to drop the case. The president appointed Pirro, a former local prosecutor, judge and Fox News host, to her post in May 2025.
“I don’t know what she was thinking?” the president wrote on Truth Social , referring to Pirro. “To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM. ... There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”
But Kennedy, a lawyer and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Sunday Pirro was “smart” to dismiss the prosecution of Hearn, which he called a “multiple vehicle pile-up.”
“Federal judges will not tolerate,” the GOP lawmaker told Welker. “And so I don’t know why she filed the suit without doing a full investigation. She says she relied on the Department of Interior. But she was smart to pull it back.”
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