Trump news at a glance: president’s pool project plagued by peeling paint – and algae blooms

Trump’s claims that ‘vandals’ are to blame don’t hold water so far – key US politics stories from Monday 22 June Donald Trump is claiming – without providing evidence – that the sorry state of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool weeks after a $14m renovation is the work of “vandals”. On Monday, Trump was adamant it was not the pool company to blame for the algae blooms and peeling paint, instead pointing to five people arrested for vandalism and five more are under investigation. “It’s not a lot of damage, but we’ll probably have to let the water out and refix it. They went in there with a knife,” Trump told reporters Monday, describing what he first said was a 290- to 300ft slit in the paint but then later amended to a 350ft slit. He also said someone had put fertilizer into the water, which caused the algae to grow. When pushed to provide evidence of his claims, he told reporters to call the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service. Neither agency responded immediately to a request for comment, nor did the US park police. Trump has sought to turn the monument “American flag blue” in time for the for the country’s 250th birthday, wh