Trump directs FBI to investigate Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool damage

Donald Trump has tasked America's most elite law enforcement agency with solving the mystery of why his substandard Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool repair job is already coming undone.

The pool was drained last weekend to remedy what Trump initially described as a 250-foot gash in the "American flag blue" pool liner he had installed. Trump later described the damage as a 300-foot gash, and then escalated the length a third time to a 350-foot gash, which he insists was caused by vandals.

An FBI evidence-gathering team was spotted at the pool Wednesday afternoon, meticulously documenting the pool's crime-covered floor with laser-scanning and measuring equipment. An FBI spokesperson confirmed the bureau's presence at the scene to The New York Times, explaining that the FBI was assisting the U.S. Park Police in investigating damage to the pool liner.

Cost Overruns and Ongoing Issues

Trump originally claimed that renovating the Reflecting Pool would cost $1.8 million, but that has not been the case. Records indicate that the Trump administration spent at least $14.7 million on the first renovation, and has spent even more in the latest attempt to fix it, bringing the overall tally closer to $16 million.

The money was spent in an apparently futile effort to rid the premises of a relentless algal bloom that returned to the pool shortly after the monument's reopening. The Trump administration referred to the flourishing flora as "residual algae" that had been laying dormant in the pool's water supply lines during the renovation. Its return, nonetheless, turned the water acid green.

Meanwhile, the pool liner installed by Rhino Linings, a popular truck-bed coating company, proved uneven and eventually peeled and floated to the pool's surface.

Trump's Vandalism Claims

Both problems, according to Trump, were the fault of vandals.

"The slashes were 300 yards long, and the floor of the pool was cut and then pulled upward, with great force, by these thugs," Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this week.

The White House has not provided any substantial evidence for the theory but has raised tensions regarding the Reflecting Pool regardless. By late June, at least seven individuals were arrested for allegedly destroying the pool, including former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn.

Read more about the pool: Here's How Long Trump Wants to Hide the Reflecting Pool From Americans

Trump Reverses ICE Vehicle-Stop Suspension After Fatal Shootings

Media reports are shedding more light on the behind-the-scenes dynamics of President Donald Trump's decision to quickly undo a suspension of Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle stops.

The initial directive was first reported Tuesday, the morning after an ICE agent shot and killed Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero during a traffic stop in Maine. That fatal incident came just days after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed in Houston in a similar situation. The command would have halted stops by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations division while its agents received additional training.

The next morning, Trump went public with his objections, overturning the change in a Truth Social post. "We CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.'s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools," he wrote, "THE TRAFFIC STOP!"

It remains unclear whether the president was aware of the vehicle-stop suspension before it was issued. Officials at DHS and ICE told The Atlantic it is "highly unlikely" Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin would have moved forward with the change without the White House.