Washington, Aug. 10 -- US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on allegations of vandalism surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, pointing to a new witness statement from a National Park Service employee while acknowledging for the first time that contractor errors contributed to the site's structural issues.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump cited testimony provided to the US Attorney's Office in early July, alleging that a long-serving National Park Service employee witnessed former Olympic athlete David Hearn "violently" ripping and tugging at the pool's newly installed blue coating. Trump linked Hearn to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue and reiterated claims that deliberate sabotage damaged ...