The verdant expanse of grass on the National Mall, extending from the Washington Monument to the World War II Memorial, is prime turf in one of the nation’s most august gathering spaces.
But even such a highly visible space in the heart of the nation’s capital is susceptible to vandalism, as the U.S. Park Police was reminded on Thursday when they discovered large stains in the grass spelling out the numbers “86 47.”
“86” is an old slang term meaning to dismiss or remove, or to kill or eliminate, in some contexts. Mr. Trump, who has been the target of multiple assassination attempts, is the 47th president as well as the 45th president.
The patches of browned grass in the shape of the numbers, which the Trump administration has defined as calling for the president’s assassination in past cases, were so large they could be seen from a web camera atop the Washington Monument on Thursday.
It was not immediately clear what caused the stains. However, someone apparently had gone to considerable lengths to discolor the grass days before President Trump is set to host an Ultimate Fighting Championship event nearby at the White House on Sunday, his 80th birthday.
The U.S. Park Police said in a statement on Thursday that it was investigating the vandalism, which was reported around 11:30 a.m. on the west lawn of the Washington Monument.
“Grass samples have been collected for testing,” the agency said.
The White House denounced the act. “Anyone who engages in or endorses political violence or assassination culture must be condemned in the harshest terms possible,” Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday.
The vandalism followed a spate of similar displays by Mr. Trump’s critics. They include James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, who posted a photo on Instagram last year of seashells on a beach forming the numbers “86 47,” prompting an inquiry by the U.S. Secret Service.
The Justice Department has repeatedly pursued criminal charges against Mr. Comey over the act, persuading a federal grand jury in North Carolina in April to charge him with making a threat against the president and with transmitting a threat across state lines. Mr. Comey has vowed to fight the case. The government’s previous bid to prosecute him failed.
The mall has been the site of previous demonstrations against President Trump, including a statue that was briefly put up last year of him and the convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein holding hands.
No modern president has sought to impose a bigger imprint on the appearance of the nation’s capital than Mr. Trump, the real estate mogul who is known to dwell on aesthetics. Since returning to office last year, he has torn down the East Wing of the White House, paved over the Rose Garden with stone tiles, resealed the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall with blue-tinted paint and sought to build a 250-foot triumphal arch. The projects have generated controversy and opposition.
The lawns surrounding the Washington Monument were overhauled and regraded after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with sunken stone retaining walls being built as security barriers, said Judy Scott Feldman, chairwoman of the National Mall Coalition’s board.
Dr. Feldman said she was more concerned about some of the permanent changes to the character of the city than about the grass stains.
“People are just frustrated because the Mall is being remade, I think,” she said.
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