Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently joined Katie Miller on ‘The Katie Miller Podcast’ to talk about the vandalism at the National Mall’s Reflecting Pool. The issue dates back to early June.
Katie Miller, the podcast host and wife of Stephen Miller, an advisor to President Donald Trump, questioned the security around the Reflecting Pool. She expressed surprise that despite the presence of cameras and the National Guard, the perpetrators were not immediately identified.
Miller questioned, ‘There’s a lot of cameras on the pool. There’s a lot of National Guard. How did somebody cut it without us knowing who did it?’
According to Burgum, initially, the area lacked security cameras focused on the pool as it had never been vandalized before. He noted that the vandalism began when President Trump decided to enhance the area’s aesthetics.
‘But we got mobile camera stations and towers in, that captured some of the secondary activity,’ Burgum mentioned. ‘We had vandalism starting as early as June 9, which we didn’t advertise because we didn’t want to have copycats.’
The full interview between Miller and Burgum is scheduled for release at 6 p.m. ET.
In light of the criticisms surrounding Trump’s renovations in Washington, D.C., vandalism has become a concern, marked by ‘8647’ graffiti, a blood-written note on the Washington Monument, and damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. This trend emerged following Trump’s order for a restoration of the Reflecting Pool, met with acts of defacement involving ‘razor-blade cuts’ and the removal of fencing.
Federal officials have raised alarms about this escalation of vandalism as the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary. The National Guard has been present as enhancements, including an ‘American Flag Blue’ paint job on the drained pool, continue.