Donald Trump is Losing Patience With Doug Burgum Over Reflecting Pool Fiasco

HELENA, MT – Doug Burgum’s Reflecting Pool debacle has become too much even for Donald Trump to ignore. After U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro admitted in a court filing that the no-bid awarded shoddy contractor work, not vandalism, damaged the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Burgum kept pushing the fabricated story anyway, only to get fact-checked by a community note citing the Trump administration’s filing. The mess culminated in a tense Oval Office meeting with Trump, Pirro, and Burgum.

“Even Donald Trump is waking up to the reality that he can’t trust his Interior Secretary. Doug Burgum spent weeks flaming a fabricated and fictitious story for the mess his department’s rushed job created, and got publicly humiliated for it when the DOJ’s own filing said otherwise,” said Jayson O’Neill, Save Our Parks spokesperson. “Burgum long ago burned through any credibility he had left, which is why Trump had to drag him into the Oval Office to get the real story. The President summoning Burgum to a face-to-face intervention to figure out if he’s lying really doesn’t bode well for the Interior Secretary’s long-term job security.”

Burgum’s Reflecting Pool spin is only the latest example of his department’s shaky relationship with the truth, following ongoing questions about transparency at Interior under his watch.

To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com. 

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