Size of “Gash” in Reflecting Pool Keeps Changing, as Told by Trump
The size of the “slit” cut into the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool just keeps growing, according to President Trump in interviews and his own social media posts. But so far, no one has been able to find any evidence that it exists at all.
On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social that “vandals” had damaged the pool, and that they would now have to drain it in order to make repairs. He claimed it “worked perfectly” before it was attacked.
“They took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work,” Trump wrote.
But by Monday, the size of the “gash” had grown to 300 feet, according to another post. And on Tuesday, the president said that the cut was 350 feet long.
Q: You mentioned yesterday that the Interior Dept has video and photos. We reached out to them and they haven't shared it with us
TRUMP: They will share it. They've arrested I think 6 people on the reflecting pool. So, the reflecting pool looks fantastic. Somebody went in with a… pic.twitter.com/tsIGNDlo2L— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 23, 2026
Though Trump’s claims keep getting more and more outlandish, he refuses to share photos of the problem, or any evidence that anyone vandalized the pool. CBS News went and inspected the pool and found no evidence of the gash, whether it be 250, 300, or 350 feet.
We checked again and still no sign of a 350-foot gash as President Trump alleges. Our @CBSMornings ? report: pic.twitter.com/h2WA9L6ZrF— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) June 23, 2026
“One thing we still can’t find is any evidence of a gash along the floor of the pool,” said CBS’s Ed O’Keefe Tuesday morning. “Despite that, the Interior Department is taking steps to drain the pool again, and fix it again.”
Trump has already spent over $16 million renovating the pool—who knows how much it will cost to drain and repair it all over again? American taxpayers continue to shoulder the financial burden of another of Trump’s slapdash vanity projects.
