President Donald Trump insisted on Monday that vandals had sliced a 350-foot gash through the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with a box cutter, a dramatic accusation he has so far declined to back with any evidence.
Speaking in the Oval Office on 22 June 2026, the president said he had personally seen the damage and that the perpetrators 'cut it very violently.' His account has shifted repeatedly, with the length of the supposed slit growing from 250 feet to 350 feet across successive tellings.
