Donald Trump has banished and publicly ridiculed a “stupid” subcontractor for allegedly damaging limestone in the White House’s newly refurbished Rose Garden.

The US president said on Saturday that he had noticed a “huge gash” in the limestone three days earlier while “admiring the stonework”.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump added: “It was deep and nasty! I started yelling, ‘Who did this, and I want to find out now!’ And I didn’t say this in a nice manner.”

“I wondered, ‘Was it vandalism or, was it stupidity?’ Lo and behold, because of the fact that we’ve installed the finest security equipment anywhere, they brought back the stupid people, with their boss watching (in sunglasses!).”

The president said security cameras had captured the moment a subcontractor dragged a broken steel cart “against the soft, beautiful stone”.

“We caught them cold,” Mr Trump said, as he posted footage of the incident for his 11 million Truth Social followers to see.