The White House turned its fire on former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta on Wednesday after he posted a video report documenting what he found — and did not find — at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, triggering an official social media broadside that called him “truly one of the dumbest individuals to have ever existed.”

Acosta, who served as CNN’s chief White House correspondent through both the Barack Obama and first President Donald Trump administrations, walked the full length of the 103-year-old landmark in Washington, D.C., searching for the slash that President Trump has repeatedly insisted vandals carved into the pool’s base. He came up empty. What he found was paint on the pool’s bottom peeling away in large sections — shoddy renovation work carried out under the administration’s direction.

Acosta said he went looking for the slit Trump keeps lying about but didn’t find any of that, though he discovered extensive evidence that the coating applied to the pool floor had deteriorated and fallen apart.

A Renovation Gone Wrong

The trouble at the reflecting pool traces back to Trump’s decision to resurface its concrete bottom in what the administration described as “American flag blue.” The project’s cost began at an estimated $2 million but has since expanded beyond $16 million. No-bid contracts were issued without planning approval, and lawmakers now seek accountability for the project’s management.

When the pool was refilled earlier this month, the protective coating on the concrete began coming loose almost right away, and the water turned a poisonous green shade as algae spread without control. Workers have since been working to kill the algae and resurface the base, and helicopters have circled overhead to prevent further incidents. Dead ducks were also reportedly found near the pool. The nation’s capital now faces the prospect of celebrating America’s 250th birthday with the landmark sitting empty.

Trump Points the Finger at Democrats

Rather than acknowledge the possibility of a construction failure, Trump moved quickly to assign blame. He told NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday that Democratic “thugs” were responsible, saying six people had been arrested and that six or seven more were under investigation. Trump claimed vandals used a box cutter or sharp knife to slash the pool’s rubberized surface and may have deliberately dumped fertilizer into the water. He told Rutte the pool would be drained and restored around the Fourth of July.

Trump also linked one of the suspects to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, saying the person was a major donor to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt amplified that line on Fox News, saying those arrested were deranged individuals and longtime donors to the Democrat Party, to Barack Obama and to Act Blue.

Acosta Fires Back, White House Responds in Kind

Acosta said he walked the entire pool and could not locate any evidence of the slashing Trump described, concluding flatly that the president’s account had no basis in fact. The White House did not engage the substance of his findings. Instead, the official @RapidResponse47 account on X responded with personal insults, telling Acosta to seek professional help and declaring him among the least intelligent people ever to have drawn breath.

It was not the first time the administration had singled out Acosta for ridicule. In January 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social describing Acosta as among the least credible and most dishonest journalists in the profession and a major sleazebag, reacting with visible delight to reports that CNN had moved him to a late-night slot. Acosta ultimately left the network that month after declining an offer to anchor a late-night program that would have required him to relocate to Los Angeles. His response to Trump’s Truth Social attack was characteristically dry — he posted a screenshot of it and observed that someone appeared to be suffering from “Acosta Derangement Syndrome.”

A Long and Contentious History

The animosity between Acosta and the Trump orbit stretches back years. In November 2018, the White House suspended his press credentials after falsely accusing him of pushing an intern during a briefing. A doctored video of the incident circulated widely and led to a lawsuit before his access was eventually restored. That episode set the tone for a relationship defined almost entirely by mutual contempt.

The reflecting pool controversy has drawn scrutiny from Capitol Hill as well. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said Washington will now celebrate America’s 250th birthday with an empty reflecting pool — a circumstance he called a testament to the project’s mismanagement. The pool’s troubles show no sign of quiet resolution, and the White House’s decision to respond to a journalist’s field report with insults rather than evidence has done little to close the story down.