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Published 11:24 25 Jun 2026 GMT
Since the Trump administration spent $14 million of taxpayer money on painting the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “American Flag Blue”, only for it to turn green in a matter of days, online criticism of the decision has been relentless, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is caught in the eye of it.
The money-sucking project is rapidly becoming the centre of a growing political storm over government spending.
Humiliatingly, after spending an eye-watering sum on painting the memorial pool, the water turned green just days after it was resurfaced.
In a desperate attempt to resolve the discoloration, the administration then ordered hydrogen peroxide to be added to the water.
However, all it appeared to do was turn the edges blue and leave a huge green strip running through the middle. Large sections of paint then began peeling from the pool’s floor, and a dead duck was spotted floating on the surface shortly after the toxic chemical was added.
In typical Trump style, the President took to Truth Social to address the damage and shift the blame onto the other political side. In numerous posts, he claimed that vandals had slashed the 250-foot strip and poured corrosive chemicals into the water. He even stated that “many” arrests had been made, although there is no evidence of them.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s posts were met with criticism and suspicion, and the extremely expensive failure by the government attracted global media attention.
In a bid to defend the colossal mistake made by the administration, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt hit out at the media, rather than addressing the embarrassing blunder.
When an X user complained about the volume of media coverage the story was attracting, Leavitt replied: "So true, and so sad. The liberal media is truly deranged."
Quickly, the comment sparked a wave of backlash from White House critics, many of whom accused Trump of starting the song and dance over the memorial pool.
In now-deleted social media posts and tip-offs to the press, Trump had persistently promoted the painting of the pool in the weeks before it suddenly went wrong, causing many people online to point out that he cannot complain about the media interest now.
One X user wrote: "Could it be that people are talking about it because Trump spent weeks and weeks talking about how big this project was? Y'all created this news cycle."
Social media users also dug up previous posts promoting the pool project from the Press Secretary herself, while others criticized the administration’s spending priorities. It was widely pointed out that cuts had been made to food assistance programmes on the grounds of funding.
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Published 11:13 19 Feb 2026 GMT
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Published 12:14 11 May 2026 GMT
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Published 12:23 22 Jun 2026 GMT
A young duckling found dead in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has sparked controversy.
US President Donald Trump has long bragged about the sheer amount of money he is throwing into the renovation of landmarks around Washington, D.C.
He has spoken about White House renovations during his second term in office, as he looks to leave his Presidential legacy behind.
He has even created the ‘Board of Peace’ and named the Kennedy Center after himself, a move which officials have since rejected.
Trump has also redecorated the White House, adding more gold to its interior, while notably splashing out millions of dollars on a new expensive ballroom.
But it seems like the money might not be getting put to good use, as the $20,000,000 splashed out on DC's Reflecting Pools has resulted in algae and dead wildlife floating around.
The government recently announced that it would work to fixing leaks in the pool’s granite foundation, by coating it with "American flag blue" paint as the 250th anniversary of the US’ independence approaches.
The National Park Service could be seen working to remove algae from the still water, with paint seen lifting from the bottom of the pool and floating around.
Despite Trump claiming that there is no algae growth in the pool, workers were seen pouring high-strength hydrogen peroxide into the water.
The body of a duckling was spotted floating in the water, raising more questions about the pool's condition, with it remaining unclear if the duck's death was linked to the bleaching or other issues with the pool.
While he has long boasted about the renovation to his pool, the Trump administration acknowledged the algae and provided an update last week.
They said: "The algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak. We thank President Trump for fixing the Reflecting Pool for good."
Whether it will be pristine in time for the fourth of July, is yet to be seen.
David Hearn, a three-time Olympian, stopped by the Lincoln Memorial on Friday (June 19) to see the new Pools, before being arrested.
The government has stated that they will prosecute anyone who is found "vandalising" the pool, and Hearn was apprehended for touching part of the blue liner, which detached from the bottom.
He claimed he was simply reaching into the water to see what it felt like, and was cuffed and charged with destruction of government property.
Footage of the viral moment circulated online, as Hearn told the Washington Post: "I didn’t vandalise anything. I didn’t destroy, break, or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs."
Trump then took to Truth Social, claiming: "Many additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool.
"It hasn’t looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built, but even then, it leaked badly, and didn’t work.
"Ours worked perfectly, including the mirror like finish, perfectly reflecting the two Great Monuments, which it never had before!
"What these terrible Vandals have done is a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comments about Donald Trump’s Truth Social posts are raising questions in light of a recent controversy involving a racist video shared by the president.
On Wednesday, Leavitt was asked about a post on Trump’s Truth Social account criticizing Britain’s plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while keeping a joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia.
The 28-year-old responded that the post should be considered official policy: "It’s coming straight from the horse’s mouth. When you see it on Truth Social, you know it’s directly from President Trump."
Leavitt called that the “beauty” of the 79-year-old's presidency and a sign of his “transparency.”
However, her statement has confused many, especially after Trump’s response to an offensive video he posted earlier this month, which depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
The footage sparked outrage, with both Democrats and Republicans condemning the racist imagery.
Trump eventually deleted the video, but he did not apologize and instead distanced himself from responsibility.
He told reporters aboard Air Force One on February 6: "I didn’t do it, by the way. This was done by somebody else," per HuffPost.
He alleged that he had only seen part of the video, which he described as being about "fraudulent elections," and passed it along without realizing the racist segment.
"I guess probably nobody reviewed the end of it," he added. "Somebody slipped and missed a very small part."
Leavitt’s strong defense of Trump’s social media posts contradicts the president’s attempt to avoid accountability for the racist video.
Critics quickly took to social media to highlight the inconsistency, with journalist Mehdi Hasan writing: "'You know it's directly from President Trump' So the Obamas as apes? Directly from President Trump. She said it."
Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office chimed in: “Unless it’s racist. Then suddenly a staffer grabbed his phone," while Chuck Schumer reacted, “And now @PressSec confirms: Donald Trump posted the racist video of the Obamas.”
Meanwhile, a critic commented: "Pathetic. When it helps him, every post is 'official presidential policy.' When it backfires, suddenly it’s 'some staffer.'"
They added, "Accountability that disappears on demand isn’t leadership. It’s a magic trick with nuclear codes. If no one knows who’s actually speaking, who’s actually in charge?"
The controversy over the video and Trump’s lack of accountability prompted a strong reaction from Obama, who spoke out about the incident in a recent interview with Brian Tyler Cohen.
While the 64-year-old didn't mention Trump by name, he referred to both the social media posts and the administration’s public behaviors as a "clown show" and expressed concern about what he sees as a decline in standards tied to the presidency.
"It's important to recognise that the majority of the American people find this behaviour deeply troubling," he said, per BBC News. "It is true that it gets attention. It's true that it's a distraction."
"There's this sort of clown show that's happening in social media and on television," he continued.
"And what is true is that there doesn't seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? That's been lost," he concluded.
Published 16:47 11 Dec 2025 GMT
Donald Trump is once again facing criticism following another comment he has made about White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump, 79, has often heaped praise on his 28-year-old employee, often highlighting aspects of her appearance, which many people have deemed to be inappropriate.
The president spoke to supporters in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday (December 9), where he addressed Leavitt's presence at the event.
He said, per The Sun: "We even brought our superstar today, Karoline. Isn’t Karoline great?
"You know, when she goes on television, Fox, like I mean, they dominate, they dominate when she gets up there with that beautiful face and those lips that don’t stop-op-op-op, like a little machine gun."
His comments about Leavitt's lips - not the first time he's seemingly honed in on this feature - sparked outrage from people on social media.
One wrote: "Trump praising Leavitt’s 'machine gun' lips isn’t just awkward, it’s the kind of compliment that belongs in a 1987 locker room."
Others added: "Trump reducing a woman to her looks and the sound of her lips is grotesque, juvenile, and horrifyingly predictable," and: "Gross. I'd be mortified if my boss spoke about me like that."
It's not the first time Trump has spoken about Leavitt's lips, as he recently made a similar comment aboard his personal presidential aircraft, Air Force One.
While he was supposed to be talking about international matters, he instead asked the reporters: "How's Karoline doing? Is she doing good? Should Karoline be replaced?"
When the gathered pool of reporters said that she should not be replaced, he then went on to assure them that it would "never happen".
Trump then continued: "That face... and those lips, they move like a machine gun."
Leavitt, who is the youngest press secretary in history, has become one of the most well-known figures in Trump's circle.
Back in August, Trump was speaking to Newsmax and was asked for his opinion on Leavitt.
He said: "She's become a star. It's that face, it's that brain, it's those lips — the way they move, they move like she's a machine gun.”
Then, he added: “Is she in the room?”, before continuing: “She's a star, and she's great.
“I don't think anybody has ever had a better press secretary than Karoline. She's been amazing.”
Leavitt has not yet addressed any of the comments publicly.
The White House press secretary has been blasted online over the Mother’s Day present she received yesterday.
Karoline Leavitt, who recently gave birth to her second child, shared pictures of the special day on her Instagram story, but one in particular received serious backlash from people online.
The first photograph was a selfie of Leavitt with her two young children, son Niko and newborn daughter Viviana, captioned "Snuggles with my babies. Nothing better than this. Happy Mother's Day to all."
The second post was a picture of her holding her daughter's hand, with her dazzling wedding ring on display. She captioned the post, "Can't get enough of her."
Although the first two pictures were harmlessly heartwarming, the third prompted social media users to call out Leavitt’s “tone deafness”.
In the picture, the 28-year-old held a card which read "Happy Mother's Day! Niko & Vivi," against a background of an orange Louis Vuitton box.
Trump administration critics were enraged at the new mom-of-two for showing off her expensive designer gift amid the rise of gas prices in America.
In a post on X sharing a screenshot of Leavitt's post on X, one person wrote, "Nothing says ‘we understand struggling Americans’ quite like flexing Louis Vuitton while people can’t afford groceries and gas."
In the comments, another user said: “The insensitivity this administration has is second to none.”
One person posed the question, "I guess they don't make hearing aids to cover tone deafness?"
In response, someone else replied, "She is tone deaf. Period. My guess is she married for financial security. Go figure."
Leavitt also used the occasion to pay tribute to her own mother with a post saying, "Mother’s Day with my sweet angel mama, and the first with my two babies. My heart has never been so full. There’s nothing I love more than being their mom."
She ended her post with, "Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mamas who make the world go around."
However, critics rushed to the comments to call out the press secretary.
One person asked, "Isn’t it strange that your husband is the same age as your mom?"
Referencing the Iran war, one person said, "Do you also think about the mothers of the children of Minab? It's very easy for you to say."
In a similar fashion, another said, "Happy Mother’s Day to the real heroes - To the mothers who have lost their children in senseless school shootings and to the mothers of the 168 school girls that were bombed by this administration."
Published 17:17 18 Nov 2025 GMT
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is reportedly under some serious strain because of her job working for President Donald Trump, as people have been studying her social media output.
Leavitt, 28, seemed to share more than usual on her social media accounts in a recent post, which has people wondering whether she is OK.
Having Donald Trump as a boss must be stressful at the best of times, but right now things are all over the place.
He’s currently embroiled in the all-encompassing Epstein debate, as well as promising most people in the USA $2,000, and calling reporters names on Air Force One.
There’s never a dull moment in Karoline Leavitt’s role as White House press secretary.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty
However, Leavitt is always put out there to defend her boss, whatever situation he might be in - from the fallout from the death of Charlie Kirk to some of the - shall we say - stranger allegations involving stories about Bill Clinton.
Still Leavitt keeps busy outside of work too, spending time with her family including her husband Nicolas Riccio and their baby son born in 2024.
Recently, she shared a number of stories on Instagram that got a few tongues wagging.
First off, she shared some harmless snaps from a recent trip to Palm Beach, writing about how ‘the ocean is [her] happy place’.
After sharing a few more pics from her swanky getaway with her husband, including her breakfast at the Four Seasons Hotel, she then took a more personal turn.
Leavitt shared a picture from the Bible, sharing the underlined quote ‘for when I am weak, then I am strong’.
She then shared another quote that read: "What a privilege it is to have your bed taken up by a small human who thinks it's the safest place in the world to be.”
Over that image, Leavitt wrote "crying".
Speaking to Mirror US, clinical psychologist Christine Schneider of the Cambridge Therapy Center gave her own take on how Leavitt might be coping.
She said: "Working as a Press Secretary means living under constant pressure. Every word, every facial expression, and every pause is dissected by the media and the public.
"That level of exposure can be incredibly demanding mentally."
"Someone in Karoline Leavitt’s position likely faces chronic stress, anxiety around public performance, and exhaustion from the nonstop pace of her role.
"There’s often a need to stay composed no matter what’s happening behind the scenes, and that emotional control, while impressive, can come at a cost."
Schneider continued: "It’s what psychologists sometimes refer to as emotional labor: the effort of managing one’s feelings to maintain a professional image.
"Over time, it can lead to burnout, irritability, and difficulty switching off after work.”
If you will work for (presumably) the most stressful man in the world - as well as one of the most powerful - you might end up feeling a bit frazzled yourself at times.
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