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Contractor Blames Own Work for Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Damage, Not Vandalism
Developing
In Short: The contractor responsible for the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation has attributed the recent damage to errors in their work, not vandalism, according to reports.
The contractor that renovated the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has told the Trump administration that the pool’s new blue liner peeling and breaking loose was caused by errors in their own work and flaws in their repair plan, not vandalism.
In July, federal prosecutors, acting on President Donald Trump’s claims of vandalism, indicted former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for pulling up a piece of the liner on a felony vandalism charge.
The contractor blamed 'human oversight' in some patches of the renovation, stating that workers did not apply enough chemical primer to gel the layers of the liner together, leading to the damage.
According to reports, the Justice Department had charged several people with vandalizing the pool but began moving to dismiss the cases on July 31, as the government agreed to pay the contractor $14.7 million for its work.
What's still developing
- “The chemical on top reached a temperature hotter than what the compound underneath could withstand, and the heat caused the bottom layer to blister and come loose, the documents show. The contractor said it had not expected that outcome because it was very uncommon to mix the two products in that way,” reports the Times.
- “Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, wrote that the Interior Department had misled her staff about the extent to which the damage had stemmed from vandalism rather than a ‘botched installation,’” reports the Times.
Sources
- Alternetlink