WNBA suspends Alyssa Thomas for hitting Caitlin Clark in the throat

June 25, 2026 3:48 PM EDT / CBS/AP

The Phoenix Mercury’s Alyssa Thomas has received a flagrant foul penalty and been suspended for one game after hitting Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark in the throat during a game Wednesday night, the WNBA said Thursday.

The hit happened with 6 minutes and 52 seconds left in the second quarter of the Fever-Mercury game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Thomas’ fist made contact with Clark’s throat while the two scrambled for the ball.

In the moment, no foul was called by referees, which Fever coach Stephanie White called “egregious” in comments after the game.

“The fact that it was a no-call … You got to call it,” White said, adding that the lack of a foul in the moment was “absolutely unacceptable.”

Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas drives to the basket against Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark on June 22, 2026, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The WNBA’s League Office can review any game and assign a flagrant foul, or reclassify a called foul as a flagrant foul, if they believe such measures are warranted. The WNBA’s review “deemed (Thomas) to have committed a non-basketball act” by recklessly making contact with Clark’s throat.

The WNBA said that Thomas will serve her suspension on June 27, when the Mercury play the Toronto Tempos at home.

This isn’t the first time the league has upgraded a foul against Clark. Last season, Marina Mabrey, playing for the Connecticut Sun at the time, was called for a technical foul in a game against Indiana. The league later upgraded it to a Flagrant 2.

Clark was also fouled while shooting a 3-pointer later in the second quarter. She fell to the ground after the shot and was seen grabbing her back as she got back up. That foul was not upgraded to a flagrant. Clark eventually left the game during the third quarter, after scoring 19 points and racking up eight assists in 20 minutes of play. The Mercury went on to win 111-109.

Clark has a history of back issues, including missing a game against the Portland Fire in May because of it, according to CBS Sports. Clark was limited to 13 games last season due to lower-body issues.

The Mercury and the Fever also played on Monday night, a game during which there were six technical fouls called and one ejection. Clark picked up her fifth technical of the season in that game. The team petitioned the league to have it rescinded, but the WNBA confirmed that the technical will stand.

Gov. Shapiro on Mamdani-backed wins in NYC: Candidates doing ‘performative politics’ must learn ‘how to deliver results’

2026-06-25T17:31:21.984Z / CNN Politics

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:31 PM EDT, Thu June 25, 2026

Gov. Shapiro on Mamdani-backed wins in NYC: Candidates doing ‘performative politics’ must learn ‘how to deliver results’

Inside Politics

Speaking to Dana Bash, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro reacted to three Mamdani-backed Democrats winning congressional primaries in New York City. “It’s one thing to speak in platitudes during a campaign,” he says. “It’s a whole other thing to actually deliver for people who are genuinely hurting.”

3:02 • Source: CNN

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/video/inside-politics-exclusive-gov-shapiro-reaction-nyc-primaries

Judge halts Trump executive order aimed at mail voting in states that challenged it

2026-06-25T19:04:55.193Z / CNN

By Blake McGill, CNN

Published 3:04 PM EDT, Thu June 25, 2026

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/video/cncpm-judge-mail-voting

Judge halts Trump executive order aimed at mail voting in states that challenged it

A federal judge on Thursday froze major parts of an executive order by President Donald Trump aimed at cracking down on mail voting, blocking the administration from taking further steps to implement it as it would affect two-dozen states that challenged the directives in court.

WATCH: Hearing derails as purple-haired Dem points finger, screams at chair to put DHS chief ‘in his place’

June 25, 2026 2:19pm EDT / Fox News

The Connecticut Democrat and DHS Secretary clashed over family separations at the border during appropriations hearing

By Peter Pinedo Fox News

Democrat Rosa DeLauro demands DHS secretary be ‘put in his place’

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., got into a heated argument with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin during today’s House hearing. (Credit: House Appropriations Committee)

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A House oversight hearing on the Department of Homeland Security derailed Thursday after purple-haired Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., pointed her finger at Secretary Markwayne Mullin and demanded the committee chairman “put him in his place.”

DeLauro and Mullin got into several shouting matches during her questioning, while House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman Mark Amodei, R-Nev., struggled to maintain order in the room.

At one point, while DeLauro was ripping the Trump administration for a border policy that she said meant “3,900 children were separated from their family,” Mullin interrupted, saying, “450,000 kids were lost under the Biden administration, and you didn’t say a word about that.”

In response, DeLauro became visibly agitated, pointing her finger and shouting, “Mr. Secretary, Mr. Secretary, do not interrupt.”

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAYS FEDERAL AUTHORITIES HAVE ARRESTED MORE THAN 10,000 SUSPECTED GANG MEMBERS

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., got into a shouting match with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin during a House hearing on Thursday.(Heather Diehl/Getty Images; SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)

Mullin shot back, “Don’t you point your finger at me.”

“I will point my finger at you,” DeLauro retorted.

“Don’t be a hypocrite. You should be as upset about the 450,000 kids that were lost [under Biden],” said Mullin.

After DeLauro said, “I am upset,” Mullin pressed further, saying, “You didn’t say a word about it. For four years you never said a word.”

After this, Amodei attempted to intervene, saying, “Mr. Secretary.”

Turning to the secretary at the center of the dais, DeLauro said, “Could you put him in place?”

TRUMP PUTS ASYLUM LAWYERS ‘ON NOTICE’ WITH NEW FRONT IN WAR ON FRAUD

Two young siblings from Honduras who were found abandoned near the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas.(Texas DPS)

To this, Amodei turned back to DeLauro and said, “Well, don’t yell at me.”

“You should be put in your place,” prodded Mullin.

Finally, the chair slammed his gavel, saying, “We are going to have something resembling order here.” Turning to Mullin, he said, “If you would like to respond later on there are methods to do that but it’s not a who can talk louder into the mic.”

Despite this, Mullin said, “I will not sit here and listen to her lie and accuse something this ridiculous,” to which DeLauro said, “Do not accuse me of lying, do not.”

“Then don’t,” said Mullin.

EXCLUSIVE: GUATEMALAN NATIONALS PLEAD GUILTY TO HORRIFIC HUMAN SMUGGLING CRASH THAT KILLED 56, INJURED 100+

[image_6]

President Donald Trump (C) is joined by (L-R) U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), U.S. Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) as he speaks before signing the Secure America Act in the Oval Office of the White House on June 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. The $70 billion package focuses entirely on funding Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations through the end of Trump’s term in office in FY2029.(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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“There is concern for children across the board,” continued DeLauro. “We care deeply about what is happening to children. I went to the border and I watched children in those fenced in places years ago and what was happening to them. So, I have a long history, Mr. Secretary, in this area. 3,900 kids were separated.”

The same day as the hearing, the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration two major immigration wins. The court ruled that Homeland Security officials may resume turning back immigrants claiming asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border before they enter the country to apply for asylum. The court also allowed the administration to end Temporary Protected Status for roughly 350,000 Haitians and 6,100 Syrians while limiting judicial review of future TPS decisions.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

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Cassidy says he passed a note to Witkoff to request briefing during heated Trump meeting

June 25, 2026 / 1:24 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on Wednesday dropped his support for a Democrat-led effort to restrict President Trump’s war powers in Iran after receiving a briefing at the White House — a briefing he said he secured with a note slipped to the president’s envoy to the Middle East following a heated exchange with Mr. Trump behind closed doors.

“In one sense, I actually accomplished the mission of what I needed to do,” Cassidy said in an interview Thursday for “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”

Cassidy and the president sparred at a testy Senate Republican lunch meeting on Wednesday, where Mr. Trump expressed his discontent with four GOP senators, including Cassidy, who had supported a resolution aimed at reining in the president in Iran a day prior. The Louisiana Republican described losing his temper at the meeting, after the president raised his voice.

In an interview with Margaret Brennan that will air on Sunday, Cassidy said that after his exchange with the president, he passed a note to Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, saying he would consider changing his vote.

“Steve, I would consider changing my vote, but I’ve been voting yes because I’ve not been briefed,” Cassidy recalled writing to Witkoff. “He said, ‘Call me back in the hour and let’s have a briefing.’ We had it last night.”

After the briefing, Cassidy opposed the latest attempt by Democrats to advance a war powers resolution Wednesday night in a key vote that helped Republicans to defeat the effort.

Cassidy, who lost his Senate primary to a Trump-backed challenger in May, outlined that his rationale for supporting the previous war powers efforts had been “because we were not being briefed.”

“We could be the Senate, the Congress, or the United States, and I felt important that we be briefed,” he said. “I agreed with the president’s original goals, those were not being achieved by my perception, and so before I could say, ‘okay, everything’s hunky dory,’ I said I need to be briefed.”

When asked what he heard at the briefing that changed his mind, the Louisiana Republican said if the original objectives were to degrade Iran’s nuclear capability, its ballistic missiles and conventional warfare capabilities, it appeared to him that the objectives “can be reached.”

“Now we have to trust but verify, but as they laid it out, they have a plausible plan by which to achieve those, and that’s what I was interested in,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy, a medical doctor, said he’s always “going to try and get as much information as possible to come to the truth of someone’s diagnosis and the truth of how to treat that problem.”

“You deny me that information, and I’m going to be frustrated, because my job is to serve with the information I have before me,” he said. “I take that same ethic to public service.”

Cassidy said “If you’re not telling me answers, I’m going to push for those answers.”

“So, when the president was berating the four people that voted for the War Powers Act, frankly, I’m not there to be berated,” he said. “And the president wasn’t invited to dish out verbal abuse.”

During the meeting with the president, Cassidy said he raised his hand and asked whether the president was asking a rhetorical question on why the small group of Republicans had supported the Iran measure.

“He goes, ‘I’m really interested.’ I stood up and I said, ‘this is why,’ and I listed those objectives that I did not see being achieved, and how the kind of endpoint of the war kept stretching out longer and longer,” Cassidy said. “He began to speak over me. Unfortunately, I raised my volume to match his.”

Cassidy said “I shouldn’t have lost my temper, nor should he, but you know, my wife will tell you every now and then, my Irish temper gets the best of me.”

“But point being, I needed to know. I need to know to serve my people and my state and my country,” he said. “As it turns out, I got a briefing afterwards.”

Park Service will drain, repair Reflecting Pool after July Fourth, court filing says

2026-06-25T17:06:41.033Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/reflecting-pool-repairs

The National Park Service will drain and repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after July Fourth celebrations, the agency’s deputy director for operations said in a court filing Wednesday.

“The National Park Service plans to begin draining the reflecting pool following the Independence Day celebration to conduct repairs, including assessing and repairing any damage to the lining,” NPS Deputy Director for Operations Frank Lands said in the filing.

The filing provides a firm timeline for when pool repairs will begin as President Donald Trump said on Truth Social Tuesday that it would be drained “either immediately before or after the Fourth of July.”

Lands, in the filing, also furthered the Trump administration’s allegations of vandalism, saying in the filing that about “70 fence post tops were thrown into the pool,” and a caulk over the foam sealant “was cut with a sharp knife or razor.”

The deputy director’s declaration was filed as part of an ongoing legal battle over the pool, which has been riddled with issues in recent weeks from claims of vandalism to algae bloom and peeling blue material.

A nonprofit sued the Trump administration last month over the president’s order to paint the pool blue, arguing that the project violates federal laws requiring the Interior Department to complete a consultation process that includes notifying the public and getting input from other federal agencies before beginning the work.

On Monday, lawyers for the nonprofit said in their own filing that recent developments reinforce the need to require the administration to follow certain procedural steps.

But lawyers for the administration argued Wednesday that the problems plaguing the pool “have nothing at all to do with the legality of the agency decision that Plaintiffs challenge.”

Trump took a personal interest in the pool earlier this year as part of his efforts to “beautify” the nation’s capital. In late March, he said on Truth Social that he was working to fix the pool along with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The pool had previously gone through a two-year renovation in 2012 during the Obama administration.

In the weeks that followed, Trump expanded the scope of the project and ordered cosmetic changes, including painting the bottom of the pool a shade of blue that resembles the American flag’s blue field.

The renovation was also expedited so it would be completed before the country’s 250th anniversary.

But signs that the project did not go according to plan emerged just a day after the reservoir was filled earlier this month with quite a bit of algae visible from the water’s edge.

Within days, clumps of algae took over the pool, prompting the administration to send in workers to vacuum it out, install a filtration system known as the “ozone nanobubbler” and dump gallons of hydrogen peroxide in the pool.

Last week, blue material at the bottom of pool began peeling off. The president then said several people were arrested for vandalizing the pool.

An Interior Department spokesperson told CNN Thursday there have been 18 police reports filed for vandalism of the pool, adding that seven people were arrested.

In Wednesday’s filing, Lands said on June 9, US Park Police responded to an NPS report of a cut in a caulk over the pool’s foam sealant.

Trump has repeatedly mentioned a “gash” in the pool as he continues to rail against alleged vandalism of a project he was personally invested in. He has offered varying descriptions — first calling it a 250-foot cut and then increasing that measurement. He later said there were “actually numerous slashes over a very long 350 foot length.”

Wednesday’s filing did not provide any details about the length of the supposed cut.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that internal government documents showed that NPS workers “found two cuts in sections of foam between the pool’s expansion joints,” each 171 feet long. However, the Times said, the documents did not make any allegations about how these reported cuts ended up in the pool.

Earlier this week, CNN spoke with several visitors, a majority of whom were not pleased with the renovation.

Mallory Boyd, 60, a lifelong DC resident who remembers riding her bike along the pool as a child, called the renovation a “waste” of taxpayer dollars.

“I think that it is a travesty that we are spending as taxpayers this much money on a restoration that was afoul and for something that was not necessary,” she told CNN on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Tad Wagner, who is visiting Washington, DC, from Kansas, was satisfied with the pool.

“I’ve read a couple of reports that they spent a lot of money to redo it. I think it looks good,” Wagner said, adding that claims that the pool has been vandalized were “really disappointing.”

Jaclyn MacDonald, who traveled from upstate New York to see the pool, stressed to CNN on Tuesday that the debate surrounding the pool is history in the making.

Describing the pool as “pretty gross,” she added: “I told my kids that, you know, one day we’re going to read about this in history books, we’re going to read about what happened to this Reflecting Pool and the national disgrace that it is, and I want to be able to say that I was there.”

CNN’s Michael Williams, Katelyn Polantz, Devan Cole and Daniel Dale contributed to this report.

Trump scores SCOTUS asylum win — but liberal justice warns it could backfire at border

June 25, 2026 3:01pm EDT / Fox News

The Supreme Court delivers significant immigration victories for the Trump administration, affirming presidential authority to end temporary protected status and turn away asylum seekers at the border. Constitutional law attorney Jonathan Turley breaks down the impact of these crucial 6-3 decisions, highlighting their implications for border sovereignty and future immigration policy in the United States.

The Supreme Court’s Thursday decision to restrict asylum applications, hailed by immigration hawks, could actually end up increasing illegal crossings, according to the three dissenting justices and immigration nonprofit involved in the case.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court held in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that migrants must physically set foot in the United States in order to be eligible for asylum, reversing lower court rulings that had required the government to process certain asylum seekers turned away at ports of entry. While the decision is broadly viewed as making asylum claims more difficult to secure, an objective of the Trump administration, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Al Otro Lado both argue that it may have unintended consequences.

“This Court has previously recognized that immigration statutes and procedures should not be construed to ‘create a perverse incentive to enter at an unlawful rather than a lawful location. ​​Yet, the majority’s construction does exactly that,” Sotomayor wrote in her dissent. “It tells asylum seekers that they may apply for asylum if they can make it across the border illegally but that they cannot apply if they patiently wait at the edge of a port of entry.”

Al Otro Lado argued on similar lines, stating in a court filing that restricting asylum access to those who physically enter the United States would”create a perverse incentive to cross the border between ports of entry” as people who do so will receive greater rights than those stopped at ports.

SUPREME COURT HANDS TRUMP TWO MAJOR IMMIGRATION VICTORIES

Asylum seekers seen walking toward the southern border in Tijuana, Mexico and a image of a courtroom in the Concord Immigration Court. Kyra Lilien, an immigration judge is suing the Trump administration over her termination, alleging she was fired because of her political affiliations.(Getty Images; Concord Immigration Court)

It is unclear if the Department of Homeland Security, which celebrated the decision, has prepared for the potential uptick in asylum seekers illegally crossing the border. DHS did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Thursday.

The conservative majority, led by Justice Samuel Alito, downplayed this possibility, calling the concern “overstated.”

Pro and anti-Trump demonstrators rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on April 1, 2026, before justices hear oral arguments on whether President Donald Trump can deny citizenship to children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily.(J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press)

DOJ ACCUSES COURTS OF UNDERCUTTING EXECUTIVE POWER IN HIGH-STAKES SUPREME COURT BORDER CASE

“Metering does not permanently bar any alien from arriving in the United States and then applying for asylum,” Alito wrote for the majority. “Illegal entry, on the other hand, may be expensive and dangerous, and it carries adverse legal effects. Entry at an improper location is a crime. An alien becomes ineligible for asylum if he unlawfully re-enters the country after having been removed.”

“An alien whose admission and inspection are delayed due to metering would need a powerful reason to apply for asylum immediately for it to be preferable to run all the risks of illegal entry,” he added.

TRUMP ADMIN EASES ASYLUM FREEZE FOR VETTED MIGRANTS, KEEPS BANS ON ‘HIGH-RISK’ NATIONS

Migrants cross illegally through a hole in a fence near El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 22, 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court halted the removal of Title 42, a policy used to block migrants at the southwest border.(Allison Dinner/AFP)

Metering refers to the practice of limiting how many asylum seekers can approach or enter a U.S. port of entry each day for processing. Under the policy, migrants were often told to wait in Mexico until U.S. officials determined the port had capacity.

Alito’s rationale was not enough to convince Sotomayor and the other dissenting justices.

“The point, however, is not that illegal entry always produces a net windfall for asylum seekers; it is that Congress was unlikely to devise a system in which asylum is available to those who unlawfully set foot over the border, but not to those who attempt to comply with the law and are physically blocked from entering at the threshold of a port of entry by an immigration officer,” she wrote. “It is also the unfortunate reality that, despite the adverse consequences the majority cites, many asylum seekers are desperate enough to flee the persecution they face in their home countries that they are willing to run significant risks to apply for asylum.”

Sotomayor went on to cite a 2018 DHS Office of the Inspector General report that found metering had “unintended consequences” which “le[d] some aliens who would otherwise seek legal entry into the United States to cross the border illegally.”

The report was published before lower courts held that migrants turned away at the border could apply for asylum, meaning that the conditions it covered are comparable to the new status quo set by the Supreme Court.

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“This administration has demonstrated that the border can be secured against illegal entries. As border wall construction continues, the ability to deter illegal crossings will only improve,” Matt Crapo, the director of litigation at the right-wing Federation for American Immigration Reform, told Fox News Digital.

“So long as the federal government makes border security a priority, illegal crossings should not be a major concern,” he added.

Elon Musk ordered to testify in election lottery cases; one lawsuit may be narrowed

2026-06-25 19:45:54 UTC / Reuters

By Jonathan Stempel

June 25, 2026 7:45 PM UTC Updated 2 mins ago

Elon Musk walks to attend the trial in his lawsuit over OpenAI for-profit conversion at a federal courthouse, in Oakland, California, U.S., April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Manuel Orbegozo/File Photo

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June 25 (Reuters) – A federal judge ordered Elon Musk to testify under oath in two proposed class actions accusing him of defrauding voters in swing states before the ​2024 election by promising a $1 million-a-day giveaway.

In a decision on Thursday, U.S. ‌Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower in Austin, Texas, also recommended that Musk and his political action committee America PAC face a claim in one of the lawsuits that they tricked voters into providing ​personal identifying information as part of the giveaway. She said a related breach ​of contract claim should be dismissed.

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Musk’s lawyers did not immediately respond ⁠to requests for comment. Lawyers for the plaintiffs in both lawsuits did not immediately ​respond to similar requests or had no immediate comment.

PLAINTIFFS SAY $1 MILLION WINNERS NOT RANDOM

The ​respective plaintiffs Joy Harvick and Jacqueline McAferty, both from Arizona, said Musk and America PAC misled voters in seven swing states into signing his petition to support the U.S. Constitution, by promising that the $1 ​million recipients would be chosen “randomly” as in a lottery.

They said voters had no ​real chance of winning and, quoting a Musk lawyer, said the 18 winners were chosen because they ‌might ⁠be good spokespeople for America PAC.

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Musk founded America PAC to support Republican Donald Trump’s successful 2024 presidential run, and announced the giveaway at a Pennsylvania town hall that October.

He is also the world’s richest person, whose businesses include electric car company Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab and rocket ​and satellite company SpaceX (SPCX.O), opens new tab.

JUDGE ​SAYS IT IS ⁠UNCLEAR IF MUSK SPOKE RECKLESSLY

In recommending that McAferty’s fraud claim continue, Hightower called it an open question whether Musk acted recklessly when ​he said payouts would be made “randomly.”

The judge quoted America PAC ​Director Christopher ⁠Young testifying in a February 2026 deposition that he was “surprised” at Musk’s choice of words.

“It was not the way that we had — you know, with legal counsel and consultation, discussed ⁠the ​program and how it would run,” Young said.

U.S. District ​Judge Robert Pitman in Austin will review Hightower’s recommendations.

blob:https://www.reuters.com/ca54afd7-dbe3-41ac-9f2e-4165d2e4a7d7

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Musk and America PAC also want Harvick’s case dismissed. ​Pitman will decide their motion himself.

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Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York Editing by Matthew Lewis

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Reflecting Pool liner was cut with knife or razor, National Park Service official says in court filing

2026-06-25T13:56:00-0400 / CBS News

Washington — A top official with the National Park Service said in a court filing Thursday that the agency reported damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool caused by a sharp knife over two weeks ago.

Frank Lands, deputy director for operations for the National Park Service, said the park service reported the damage on June 9 to the U.S. Park Police. Lands’ declaration is the first public record testifying to intentional damage of the pool, after President Trump blamed the renovated project’s peeling surface on vandals. The president told reporters earlier this week that the National Park Service or Interior Department would provide evidence in court of what he called a 350-foot gash to the pool’s coating.

“On June 9, 2026, after the rehabilitation project was substantially complete, the U.S. Park Police responded to an NPS report of damage to the reflecting pool, including a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material,” Lands said in the court filing. “In addition, approximately 70 fence post tops were thrown into the pool.”

Lands, who assumed his current role in 2023, declared he has personal knowledge of the facts stated in his declaration and is willing to testify in court. It’s not clear what kind of evidence the National Park Service has.

Members of the National Guard patrol the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after recent renovations in Washington, D.C., June 23, 2026. Aaron Schwartz / REUTERS

Lands said in the filing that the park service plans to begin draining and repairing the pool after the Independence Day festivities, rather than before. Lands’ statement came about as a part of the Cultural Landscape Foundation’s lawsuit against the Interior Department over the president’s Reflecting Pool paint job.

In an exchange with CBS News senior White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe earlier this week, Mr. Trump insisted that vandals, rather than other problems with the work, are responsible for the damage seen following the $14.7 million sealant job. The water has also been plagued by a resurgence of algae.

Peeling is seen in the blue coating on the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 24, 2026. AP Photo/Rahmat Gul

At least five people have been arrested for alleged vandalism related to the Reflecting Pool, and five additional people were issued federal citations, according to the U.S. Park Police. But details of the evidence have not been released.

“Yeah, at the right time you’ll see it,” Mr. Trump said of evidence of damage to the pool. “You’ll see it in court. You’ll see it in court, but all you have to do is call the Parks Department, call the Department of Interior.”