The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been at the center of a political fight for weeks, with Democrats insisting damage to the site is the result of poor contractor work and conservatives pointing to deliberate sabotage. Now Jesse Watters says he has video from the Department of the Interior showing two individuals acting suspiciously at the pool.
Watters walked viewers through the footage on Jesse Watters Primetime Tuesday night. His team hasn't independently verified the video, but what it appears to show is hard to dismiss.
"June 19, a male, blue shirt, reaches in, stays there for a little while. He goes back down, comes back up multiple times," Watters said. "What's he doing? Then a female, white tote bag. She reaches in, needs a better angle, sets the bag down, dives in a little deeper."
Watters continued, “No one was stopped or questioned by police, so no arrests. And we don't have the police report yet. But what are they doing with their hands in the pool? Are they cutting the lining? Are they peeling off the paint? We don't know. If they're committing a crime, they'll probably tell you they dropped their wedding ring.”
Watters himself acknowledged the possibility that contractors also played a role, “Maybe the contractors screwed up the pool, and they're fixing it,” he said. “But we have a hunch there was also foul play. And we could be wrong, but we're seeing preliminary reports of alleging vandalism.”
An earlier incident preceded that footage. According to preliminary reports Watters cited, on June 9, just a week after workers started filling the pool with water, someone slashed a section of the liner overnight with a razor blade. The New York Times described those as two 171-foot blade cuts. Whoever did it also ripped the fence tops off and threw them into the pool.
ICYMI: The Democrat Party Is Dead
In fact, the June 19 incident had a witness. That witness reportedly watched a man record himself on his phone as he ripped the liner with his bare hands. A Park Service employee told him to stop. He kept going. The National Guard had to physically intervene. When officers searched him, his hands and gloves were wet. He faced four counts. That suspect turned out to be an Olympic canoeist, David Hearn.
Hearn denies any wrongdoing, but Watters says there’s ample reason to be suspicious. Hearn is a longtime Democrat donor who gave money to Barack Obama and ActBlue. Park Police arrested him once before, back in 1996. He now has a GoFundMe and a lawyer who prosecuted Trump during the first impeachment. That lawyer is Norm Eisen, who wasted no time getting on CNN to defend his client.
"This is a meritless prosecution," Eisen said. "We will get into all the details in court. Every American should be concerned about this kind of thing. He's a cyclist who was going by, a concerned citizen."
Watters didn’t buy that explanation.
🚨 JUST IN: Video has been released of suspected vandals DESTROYING the lining of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) June 24, 2026
Trump Derangement Syndrome seems to be a BRAIN EATING disease. This is INSANE.
This particular incident took place on June 19. Now, even NYTimes is admitting… pic.twitter.com/PdYJUG1jr9
For weeks, Democrats insisted this was a contractor problem. It was Trump’s fault for hiring these contractors. That argument gets harder to sustain with every new detail that surfaces. Slashed liners, ripped fencing, wet gloves, and surveillance footage of shady people reaching into the pool all point to the same thing.
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