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GOP speaker claps back after Booker stumps against bid to eradicate red state’s Democrat-held districts

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EXCLUSIVE: Alabama Republicans are moving to force through a new congressional map that could reduce Democratic representation amid a narrow national GOP House majority, while rebuking Yankee Democrats traveling to the Yellowhammer State to gin up opposition.

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State leaders argue the new Supreme Court ruling limiting the use of race in redistricting has changed the legal landscape, giving Alabama grounds to revisit and undo a court-imposed map that recently reshaped its congressional districts to help minority voters.

As attention shifted from Louisiana to Alabama after the high bench tossed the Pelican State’s map last week, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., traveled south to stump in Birmingham with fellow Democrats bemoaning legislators’ attempts to force the high bench to reconsider a partially conflicting order from three years prior.

«Well, I’m probably guessing that’s first time Cory Booker’s ever been in Alabama,» Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainville, told Fox News Digital.

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BLOCKBUSTER SUPREME COURT VOTING RIGHTS RULING IGNITES REDISTRICTING WAR ACROSS SOUTHERN STATES

Sen. Cory Booker joined civil rights and voting rights advocates at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 29, 2025, to reintroduce the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

«The thing about it is the people that we represent have lived here most of all of their lives and they’re the ones that ask us to do something for them — not the Cory Bookers,» Ledbetter said. «And he can nationalize it all he wants to, but it’s not going to change facts.»

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Booker joined Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham, the state’s lone Democrat, until the court-mandated redraw produced a Democratic flip by Rep. Shomari Figures of Mobile.

«We are in a storm right now — the question is, where will you stand, will you hold up your light,» Booker addressed a redistricting town hall in Birmingham, where he declared voting rights are on the ballot, according to the Alabama Reporter.

The Yankee Democrat said he came south out of obligation to recognize that the Supreme Court upended decades of progress made by Alabamians, according to the city’s NBC affiliate.

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Late last month, the Supreme Court struck down Louisiana’s 2-Democrat congressional map, in which Reps. Cleo Fields and Troy Carter’s Democratic districts were drawn with race as a significant factor.

Alabama faced a similar fight after the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Allen v. Milligan forced the state to redraw its map, leading to a court-imposed plan that shifted its delegation from a 6-1 Republican split to 5-2 after Republicans created but were rebuked for the so-called «Livingston map» that gave minorities districts with 55% and 40% representation respectively.

SUPREME COURT RULES ON KEY VOTING RIGHTS ACT RULE AS REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS WAGE REDISTRICTING WAR

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The interceding Livingston map, so named for Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, should be revisited and upheld by the Supreme Court in line with its more recent ruling, Ledbetter argued.

In passing the map, Ledbetter said he expects the Supreme Court will be forced to weigh in, via a new legal challenge or otherwise, and that the Louisiana ruling gives Alabama the precedent it needs to undo the high court’s prior ruling and imposed map.

Chase Elliott and William Byron leading a NASCAR race at Talladega Superspeedway

Hendrick Motorsports drivers Chase Elliott and William Byron lead the field at the YellaWood 500 — one of Alabama’s premier sporting events — at Talladega Superspeedway. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

«Once that happens, it gives the governor opportunity to call a special election.»

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While any action taken by Ledbetter’s legislature would likely spur court action, he suggested quick passage is needed as Alabama’s primaries approach on May 19.

«If we did nothing, we had no shot, and doing this gives us the opportunity to have a ball in the air in case they do overturn [Milligan].»

Gov. Kay Ivey called the legislature to special session Monday to create plans for potential adjustment of upcoming primary elections, if the state is able to force the redistricting issue upon the Supreme Court.

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Ledbetter said the Livingston map was fair, and attempted to follow the will of the court originally — adding that he plans to force the issue this week during the special session.

«Our goal is to pass the Livingston map and give the governor the opportunity if the 14th Amendment [provision] is removed; that gives us the opportunity to go forward with it,» he said, arguing the earlier ruling relied on legal standards that may now be affected by the court’s more recent decision.

«That’s really the only shot we got to be able to do this before the November elections is that map that’s existing,» he said.

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SUPREME COURT JUST GAVE BLACK VOTERS A SHOT AT REAL POWER BEYOND SAFE SEATS

Pushing back again on Booker and critics of Alabama’s prior attempt to redraw, Ledbetter said the Livingston map, under today’s population footprint, actually gives all voting blocs a better shot.

Redistricting demonstration at court

A Fair Maps Rally was held in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 in Washington, DC. The rally coincides with the U.S. Supreme Court hearings in landmark redistricting cases out of North Carolina and Maryland. The activists sent the message the the Court should declare gerrymandering unconstitutional now. (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)

«When that was redistricted that was a 50-50 seat,» he said of one of the Democrat-friendly districts on the map. «It gives everybody a shot and it’s got all seven seats open.»

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He criticized national Democrats for descending on other states like Virginia to try to tip the scale of their own redistricting, noting that Alabamians elected a Republican supermajority in Montgomery and want to reflect that in Congress.

DEMS CIRCLE THE WAGONS BY BLAMING GOP FOR THEIR REDISTRICTING RESPONSE AHEAD OF MIDTERMS: ‘VERY DESPERATE’

«I don’t think it’s right for the courts to overstep their boundary and try to do legislation.»

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Families playing in the water at Orange Beach Alabama

Families play in the water at Orange Beach, Ala., a popular tourist destination in the Yellowhammer State (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Ivey said in a statement the state has been battling «federal courts and activist groups who think they know Alabama better than Alabama» since the 2020 census.

«By calling the Legislature into a special session, I am ensuring Alabama is prepared should the courts act quickly enough to allow Alabama’s previously drawn congressional and state Senate maps to be used during this election cycle,» she said.

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With Ledbetter and his partners on the Senate side primed to repass the Livingston map, the Supreme Court would have about a week to step in ahead of the May 19 primary, while Secretary of State Wes Allen told the Montgomery Advertiser that no matter the result of the special session, that date is set in stone — setting up a reason for national attention to turn toward the Yellowhammer State.

Fox News Digital reached out to Booker and Ivey for additional comment.

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Balotaje en Colombia: un país dividido elige presidente entre un libertario y un socialista

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Una Colombia dividida en dos elige este domingo qué rumbo tomará el país desde el 7 de agosto, cuando Gustavo Petro termine su mandato y deje en nuevas manos la difícil tarea de gobernar una nación marcada por la peor ola de inseguridad en décadas, un panorama económico complejo y un legado de mejoras en el área social que lograron reducir la pobreza y la desigualdad.

En un extremo del Parque de la 93, en el exclusivo barrio de Chapinero, en Bogotá, un puñado de militantes reparte folletos que llaman a votar por Iván Cepeda. Unas cuadras más allá, en la fachada de un edificio, un inmenso cartel sólo muestra la imagen de un tigre, en alusión al candidato de derecha populista Abelardo De la Espriella, quien ha usado a ese animal como símbolo de su campaña.

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Son las pocas señales que aquí marcan que este domingo habrá elecciones. Casi no se ve en las calles propaganda política. Pero todos saben que es mucho lo que se juega en las urnas.

De la Espriella, un recién llegado a la política que hizo fortuna como abogado y empresario, fue la sorpresa de la primera vuelta del 31 de mayo cuando cosechó 10,3 millones de votos (el 43,78%) y dejó en segundo lugar al senador oficialista Cepeda, que hasta entonces figuraba como favorito en los sondeos y obtuvo 9,7 millones de votos, (el 40,98%). En un lejano tercer lugar quedó Paloma Valencia, la candidata de la derecha más moderada, y mucho más atrás las figuras del centro, en una muestra clara de la crisis que atraviesan los partidos tradicionales, como se ha visto en varios países de la región.

En un país de algo más de 53 millones de habitantes, la polarización quedó bien clara: entre los dos candidatos ubicados en los extremos sumaron cerca del 85% del total de votos. Queda entonces una pequeña porción de votantes que ahora tendrán que volcarse hacia un lado o el otro.

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Los últimos sondeos -que por ley sólo podían difundirse hasta el domingo pasado- mostraban una ventaja para De la Espriella de entre 4 y 7 puntos porcentuales sobre Cepeda, quien hasta último momento intentó seducir a los votantes del centro, a los indecisos y a quienes no fueron a votar hace tres semanas. El voto aquí no es obligatorio y en la primera vuelta la participación fue cercana al 58% del padrón. Ahora ambos candidatos esperan ampliar ese porcentaje para sumar más apoyos.

Desconfianza en las encuestas

Pero los sondeos, se sabe, muestran una foto bastante parcial y han fallado no sólo aquí sino en procesos electorales en las Américas y en Europa. En Colombia, particularmente, las encuestas están muy cuestionadas y ahora debieron ceñirse a una nueva legislación que incorpora criterios mucho más estrictos, según explicó a Clarín Daniel Poveda, coordinador de análisis de la consultora Colombia Risk Analysis.

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“Somos un poco escépticos de la brecha a favor de De la Espriella. Es posible que gane, pero por un margen más estrecho”, señaló el experto en análisis político. En estos últimos días, la posibilidad de una diferencia de pocos votos entre los candidatos alimentó el temor a disputas y conflictos.

Petro todavía no reconoció oficialmente el resultado de la primera vuelta, que sorprendió a un oficialismo que se sentía ganador. Cepeda también presentó dudas al comienzo pero terminó por aceptar los datos unos días después, cuando era evidente que las denuncias de supuestas irregularidades presentadas por el presidente carecían de consistencia.

Ante rumores de posibles movilizaciones en la noche del domingo, la policía ya ha preparado un fuerte despliegue de seguridad para la jornada electoral.

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Un mural del candidato oficialista Iván Cepeda y su compañera de fórmula Aida Quilcué, en Bogotá. Foto: EFE

Un «referéndum» sobre Gustavo Petro

En este clima turbio, esta elección es para muchos una suerte de “referéndum” sobre el gobierno de Petro, el primero de izquierda –o mejor, socialdemócrata- en este país que durante décadas siguió una senda conservadora.

Con sus desaciertos y falencias, Petro deja el poder con una imagen positiva relativamente alta, cercana al 40%, sobre todo por el apoyo de los sectores populares a los que ha dado voz y espacio por primera vez.

“Petro ha diversificado por primera vez las preocupaciones de los colombianos. Ya no es un país que gravita alrededor del tema de seguridad, del enfrentamiento con grupos armados, como ha sido durante décadas, sino que le preocupa la corrupción, la salud, la economía. Es un país que ya no está en modo primario de sobrevivencia”, interpreta Sergio Guzmán, director de Colombia Risk Analysis.

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Al actual presidente le ha ido bien en áreas como inclusión social, pues se ha ocupado de sectores que habían sido históricamente postergados. A costa de un gasto fiscal inédito, el gobierno ha aumentado el salario mínimo, implementado programas sociales y ha llevado coberturas de salud a zonas rurales o aisladas donde nunca antes había llegado el Estado.

Cepeda, un filósofo y político de 63 años, encarna la continuidad del proceso de cambio que se inició en 2022. Aunque trató de despegarse de las medidas más polémicas o cuestionadas de Petro, como su fallido de plan de paz o el proyecto de una asamblea constituyente, fuertemente resistida por la mayoría de la población.

El presidente de Colombia, Gustavo Petro, termina su mandato en agosto. Foto: AFP

Del otro lado aparece un fuerte “antipetrismo”, según coinciden varios analistas consultados por Clarín. Un panorama económico de inflación, magro crecimiento, desinversión, una crisis del sistema de salud, un aumento de la inseguridad y el fortalecimiento de los grupos armados tras el fracaso de la política de “paz total” de Petro, que prometía desmovilizar a las guerrillas y logró todo lo contrario, alimenta ese rechazo.

Una gran porción de los colombianos no tiene tampoco confianza en De la Espriella –que con su estilo agresivo, desfachatado, ha mostrado actitudes o posturas muy criticables- pero le dará su voto por ser “lo menos malo”, como señalan aquí los expertos y ciudadanos de a pie.

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“Hay muchas propuestas de De la Espriella que son difíciles de tragar para los votantes de centro”, señala Guzmán. Su idea de alinearse ciegamente con Estados Unidos, abandonar todos los esfuerzos de los acuerdo con los grupos armados, recortar drásticamente el gasto del Estado –con el modelo de la motosierra de Javier Milei- o construir megacárceles para narcotraficantes al estilo de Nayib Bukele en El Salvador no caen bien a una porción considerable de votantes.

Pero “El Tigre” encarna la “antipolítica”, el profesional y empresario exitoso que no pertenece “a la casta” y que viene a traer nuevos aires al país.Y aunque se le ha cuestionado su pasado como abogado defensor de acusados por narcotráfico, por ejemplo, logró un caudal considerable de apoyos.

El propio Cepeda ha denunciado penalmente a De la Espriella semanas atrás por supuestos vínculos con paramilitares. Y lo ha calificado de “fascista mafioso” y “traidor de la patria”.

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El populista libertario no se quedó atrás y acusó a Cepeda de «bandido, colaborador de delincuentes», «narcoterrorista» o «heredero de las FARC».

En este ambiente los colombianos eligen el camino para los próximos cuatro años.

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African and Caribbean leaders call for payments, debt cancellation, formal apologies over slavery

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African and Caribbean leaders are demanding financial compensation, debt cancellation and formal apologies from countries that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade after adopting a sweeping reparations plan at a conference in Ghana.

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The 19-point framework calls for financial compensation, debt relief, a Global Reparations Fund and the return of looted cultural artifacts and ancestral remains. It also seeks reforms to international financial institutions that supporters say disadvantage Third World countries.

The proposal is expected to be presented at the next UN General Assembly as African and Caribbean nations step up a coordinated push for slavery reparations.

The plan was adopted Friday by the African Union and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Commission on Reparatory Justice at the end of a three-day conference.

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REPARATIONS ADVOCATES PUSH FOR PAYMENTS TO BLACK AMERICANS DESPITE BUDGET AND LEGAL CHALLENGES

John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, and other dignitaries attend a wreath-laying event at Christiansborg Castle in Accra, Ghana, Friday, during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)

«None of us gathered in this hall today can be held personally responsible for the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade,» Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama told delegates.

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«History does not ask us to inherit guilt, but it asks us to inherit responsibility,» Mahama added.

The proposal does not identify specific countries that should provide compensation or issue formal apologies.

TULSA MAYOR PROPOSES $100M REPARATIONS PLAN FOR DESCENDANTS OF 1921 TULSA RACE MASSACRE

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John Dramani Mahama lays a wreath at Christiansborg Castle in Accra Ghana

John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, lays a wreath at Christiansborg Castle in Accra during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans on Friday. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)

It does call for debt cancellation, climate justice financing, expanded citizenship pathways for Africans in the diaspora and what organizers describe as a «right of return» for descendants of enslaved Africans.

The plan also urges African countries to preserve former slave forts and castles as memorial sites.

According to advocates, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and transported aboard European ships between the 15th and 19th centuries. Supporters of reparations argue the effects of slavery continue to be felt across Africa and the Caribbean generations later.

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UN COURT RULES WEALTHY NATIONS PAY UP FOR CLIMATE CHANGE DAMAGES IN CONTROVERSIAL GLOBAL RULING

John Dramani Mahama and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa seated at a conference table in Accra, Ghana.

President John Dramani Mahama and Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa host a high-level consultative conference on the next steps following the United Nations resolution on trafficking of enslaved Africans in Accra, Ghana, on Thursday. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)

The conference follows a UN vote in March recognizing transatlantic slavery as the «gravest crime against humanity.»

The resolution passed with 123 votes in favor, but the U.S., Israel and 52 other countries either voted against it or abstained.

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According to Reuters, the United States and European Union raised concerns that the resolution could be interpreted as creating a hierarchy among crimes against humanity by treating some atrocities as more serious than others.

MACRON TAKES THE STAGE UNINVITED AT AFRICA SUMMIT TO SCOLD CROWD FOR ‘TOTAL LACK OF RESPECT’

John Dramani Mahama and Mia Amor Mottley attending wreath-laying at Christiansborg Castle in Accra Ghana

John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, Mia Amor Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s foreign affairs minister, attend a wreath-laying event at Christiansborg Castle in Accra, Ghana, Friday, during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)

Heads of state from Namibia, Liberia, Senegal, Barbados and Sao Tome and Principe attended the conference, along with senior officials from several other countries.

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French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the gathering virtually from the Élysée Palace, where he acknowledged the suffering caused by slavery.

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Enslaved people were «torn from their homelands, deported, dehumanised, and treated as goods,» Macron said.

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Macron also said reparations should not be viewed «as an end point, or a cheque written to bring the story to a close.»

The conference in Ghana brought together separate reparations efforts previously pursued by African and Caribbean nations into a single document that organizers plan to take before the United Nations.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Former Olympian among those charged with vandalizing Reflecting Pool; Trump says basin must be drained: report

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Multiple people have been arrested this weekend after allegedly vandalizing the newly refurbished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, prompting a strong response from President Donald Trump and an increase in security at the site.

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In a statement on Truth Social Saturday night, Trump announced «many additional people» have been arrested after suspects «took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete.»

The president also alleged suspects «poured corrosive and destructive chemicals» into the basin.

«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,» Trump wrote in the post. «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.»

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TRUMP SAYS VANDALS USED CHEMICALS TO DAMAGE NEWLY RENOVATED REFLECTING POOL NEAR LINCOLN MEMORIAL

National Park Service employees and contractors use vacuums to remove green algae from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Thursday, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump said administration officials met with contractors Saturday and will likely need to drain «much of the water» in order to do the necessary repairs. 

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It is unclear if the contractors mentioned are the same ones initially employed to carry out the renovations.

«[We] will have them done as quickly as possible,» the president wrote. «What they have damaged does not even include the earlier killing of a large amount of grass which was, by far, the least of it.

«… The Reflecting Pool was never so beautiful as it was just one week ago, even going back to 1922 when it opened. We are very proud of what we have done with this magnificent structure, and we will get it repaired, quickly, to an equal level of Beauty.»

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The announcement came as the administration faces scrutiny over peeling paint and algae growth just weeks after a $14.8 million restoration project was completed.

While Trump did not specify who was responsible for the alleged gash in the lining and subsequent peeling, multiple arrests were documented over the weekend by local reporters.

Paint peels from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Paint peels from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. (Annabelle Gordon/Reuters)

TRUMP TAKES MOTORCADE INTO REFLECTING POOL, BLASTS PAST ‘$38M DISASTER’ FIX UNDER OBAMA

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Journalist Emily Miller posted a two-minute video on X Friday showing a man in lime green racing gear questioning a National Guardsman before being handcuffed by U.S. Park Police.

The Washington Post later identified the man in Miller’s video as David Hearn, 67, a three-time Olympian who was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.

Hearn told the outlet he had just finished a 52-mile bike ride when he noticed a «partially detached piece» of the new pool liner and «reached into the water to see what it felt like.»

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The Bethesda, Maryland, native told The Associated Press he owned a company that made composite used to build watercraft.

Former US Olympian David Hearn

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn was arrested after allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. (David Madison/Getty Images, File)

While Miller claimed in her post that Hearn «grabbed» a hose that National Park Service workers were using to remediate algae growth, Hearn told The Washington Post the hose «may» only have been touched by his bike tire.

«I didn’t vandalize anything,» Hearn told the outlet.

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Hearn, who was arrested in 1996 on charges of canoeing on the Potomac River but later had them dropped, said, «I didn’t destroy, break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already being handcuffed.»

National Guard members walk past a National Park Service employee using a vacuum to clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Friday, June 19, 2026, in Washington.

National Guard members walk past a National Park Service employee using a vacuum to clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Friday, in Washington. D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Miller reported that seven people were detained Friday and five people were detained Saturday in separate incidents, which has led to a major security surge.

In an earlier Truth Social post Saturday, Trump questioned, «Who would do such a thing?» 

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«These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments,» the president wrote. «Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair.»

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The White House, U.S. Park Police and Miller did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

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Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.

vandalism, national guard, white house, parks, donald trump, police and law enforcement, washington dc

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