Doug Burgum tweeted on September 3 that the administration is preparing to start excavation work for the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck over the next two-week period.

Posted by The Lawfare Podcast, Sep 14, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 5 support1 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 95%

The Lawfare PodcastSep 14, 2026

The claim matches the post's wording: Burgum announced on X on September 3, 2026 that the administration is preparing to start excavation work over the next two-week period, and the X post itself and AP, Reuters, Bloomberg and Politico all confirm it.

We could not find who says this in the episode. Shown here; not scored.

What we found

Supports. The primary X post from @SecretaryBurgum, dated September 3, 2026, states 'we are preparing to start, over the next two-week period, the excavation work necessary for the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck.'[5]

Supports. AP and Reuters, both tier-1 wire services, report that Burgum announced on X on Thursday, September 3, that excavation work would start over the next two weeks.[1][2]

Supports. Bloomberg and Politico quote the same post and date it to September 3, confirming the wording and the two-week timeframe.[3][4]

Context. CNN reports that on Friday, September 4, government lawyers seemed to backtrack in a court filing, describing the current plan as archaeological survey work. This post-dates the tweet and does not change whether the September 3 tweet said what the claim says.[6]