A team from the FBI spent Wednesday afternoon on the floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. They were documenting the grimy, water-free surface with laser and other measuring gear, in the hope of establishing what actually damaged the newly installed blue lining. That’s per a new report by The New York Times photographer who was present at the site. A bureau spokesperson said the personnel were there to help the U.S. Park Police look into the damage at the landmark. They told The Daily Beast that its Washington Field Office Evidence Response Team had been assigned to the case. The agents arrived two days later. President Donald Trump announced that they were draining the pool via Truth Social on July 13. He wrote that the work was needed to repair damage he attributed to “the Vandals.” In the same post, reported by CNN, he described slashes measuring “300 yards long” and said the pool floor had been cut and then hauled upward by force. That marked the third version of the story. Trump initially described a single 250-foot cut, then revised it to numerous slashes spread across a 350-foot stretch, before landing on 900 feet. In another Truth Social post on Friday morning, he said the pool was damaged by “Deranged Vandals,” writing: “What kind of animals would do such a thing?” via Truth Social A CNN crew that went to the National Mall late on July 13 reported seeing no obvious sign of long cuts in the new lining, though a chain-link barrier kept the team from walking the full length of the basin. No evidence of sabotage so far The renovation itself had begun at Trump’s behest in April. What was pitches as a roughly $2 million job has since cost taxpayers more than $13 million, and as high as $16 million. The pool reopened on June 6 in a shade Trump chose and called “American flag blue.” Within a fortnight, the coating was flaking and an algae bloom had turned the water green, as Time reported. The administration has put some evidence on the record. In a June court filing in a preservation lawsuit over the renovation, the Justice Department said caulk covering the pool’s foam sealant had been cut with a sharp knife or razor and that the tops of roughly 70 fence posts were thrown into the water. (via CNN) An analysis published July 16 seems to indicate that there was no sabotage. Reporters who walked the perimeter on June 25 found seven places where the membrane had lifted. Four waterproofing specialists who reviewed the imagery and records told The Washington Post the pattern pointed not to deliberate tampering but problems with installment. The FBI team was scanning that same surface a day later, yet neither the bureau nor the Park Police has, as of writing this, said what the evidence sweep turned up. The bureau’s arrival adds federal weight to a case that has already produced four defendants, three facing misdemeanors and former Olympic canoeist David Hearn a felony count. All have pleaded not guilty, and no charging document alleges anyone made the cuts Trump has described.