'No shame': Biden slams Trump for using the highest office in the land to line his pockets

Former President Joe Biden laid into President Donald Trump at a Maryland Democratic Party fundraiser, accusing him of making billions of dollars in his second term. "The reflecting pool reflects something even worse than the narcissism and incompetence at the core of this admin. It's the corruption. He has no shame, and frankly, it’s embarrassing for the country. Trump couldn’t care less. Making money off the presidency is one of the reasons he wants to be president," Biden said, flagging his infrastructure spree as one of the examples.

"It's not just his vanity projects, tearing down the East Wing of the White House, making room for his ballroom, putting his name on the Kennedy Center, building an arch in his own honor, even hiring his own pool guy to fix the reflecting pool. Woah! What a loser," he told supporters gathered at the venue. This is among Biden's sharpest attacks on Trump since leaving office in January 2025. 

The 83-year-old also criticized Trump's efforts to compensate those involved in the January 6 Capitol riot, referring to the $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund. "What makes me angry is that Trump wants to give taxpayers' money to the January 6th insurrectionists. That's what he wants to do," he said. "These people don't deserve to be compensated. They deserve to be put in jail for a long, long, long time."

With the reflecting pool courting increasing scrutiny from Democrats who have lambasted Trump's spending priorities, Biden became one of the most prominent, if not the biggest, Democrats to target Trump over the botched $16 million project that began in April this year. "Corruption on a scale never seen before in American history in any administration," he said, referring to the no-bid contracts used to award work on the project undertaken as part of America's 250th anniversary celebrations.

The pool's opening in June hit multiple early snags: sweltering heat triggered an algae bloom that turned the water green rather than the intended blue, despite the use of nanobubbler technology meant to prevent such an outcome. The issues were compounded when sections of the coating giving the pool its "American Flag Blue" color began to peel within days. The 80-year-old, however, blamed vandals but offered no evidence to support the claim.

Six people have been arrested in connection with the alleged vandalism, including three-time Olympian David Hearn, who was detained for five hours after reaching down to touch a flap of blue liner that had peeled away from the pool. Hearn denied any wrongdoing, and his attorney, Norm Eisen, said Hearn bore no responsibility for the pool's condition, attributing its deterioration to shoddy workmanship.