Following a weekend trip to his Virginia golf club, President Donald Trump jumped on his Truth Social account to sound off on one his favorite topics: his anger around the state of his signature construction projects to renovate the Kennedy Center and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump.” The board voted for the change despite a court ruling in May that the performing arts venue cannot be renamed without congressional approval. Lawyers for Democratic Rep.
Joyce Beatty, an ex officio Kennedy Center board member, argued this week the new plan is an end-run around the May decision and a “breathtaking assault on the rule of law” meant to cover for the financial chaos caused by the president’s takeover, which has prompted a string of artist cancelations and a reported slowdown in ticket sales. The Trump administration, meanwhile, argues the building is in dire need of renovation, to the point that it could someday need to be torn down unless the build plan moves forward. The president has insisted vandals were behind peels and cracks in the newly refinished Reflecting Pool, which has had to be drained multiple times since the president took over fixing it.
But administration officials have admitted that the damage was likely from poor construction, forcing U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro to drop a high-profile case against a former Olympian after finding that the damage was “the result of flawed installation by the contractor.” The result infuriated Trump, who has openly attacked D.C.’s top prosecutor over the decision. Earlier this month, Pirro called on the judge overseeing the case to leave open the possibility of new charges against David Hearn, who had pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing prior to the dismissal of charges.
Vandals indeed appeared to target the grass nearby, where the apparent anti-Trump slogan “86 47” was found inscribed in dead grass in July. The patch of grass was also the site of the president’s Great American State Fair in July, which saw thousands of visitors at the site across two weeks of events. On Thursday, a woman was indicted on two felony counts for allegedly spray painting another nearby monument, the WWII Memorial.
She is expected to be arraigned next week. A federal judge has aleady rejected Pirro’s attempts to keep her in jail while the legal battle plays out. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Extract — continue reading at the source.
