Trump blames vandals for Reflecting Pool fiasco as $14m renovation succumbs to algae and peeling paint

Renovation turns to fiasco

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, repainted in "Old Glory Blue" for the country's 250th birthday, began showing algae blooms and peeling paint within days of the $14 million renovation's completion. Trump awarded the no-bid contract to a company that had previously worked on pools at one of his golf clubs. CNN had a water sample analysed and found phosphate levels far above recommended limits, while The New York Times reported faulty pipes and recurring leaks that cut the pool off from its filtration system. Shallow, warm water and strong sunlight created ideal conditions for algae, complicating cleanup efforts that included vacuuming and hydrogen peroxide treatments.

Trump blames vandals, not the contractor

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump insisted the pool company was not at fault and instead pointed to "vandals." He described a 290- to 300-foot slit in the paint, later amending it to 350 feet, and said someone had poured fertilizer into the water. "It's not a lot of damage, but we'll probably have to let the water out and refix it. They went in there with a knife," he said. When asked for evidence, he told journalists to contact the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service; neither agency responded immediately. Reporters who visited the pool on Sunday saw no sign of such damage, the Washington Post reported.

“Who would think that somebody would go into a pool and take a knife and start cutting it?”

The National Park Police said five people were arrested for vandalism and five others received citations. Trump later threatened on Truth Social that damaging monuments carries a ten-year prison sentence and "will be totally enforced." An AFP photographer witnessed two arrests near the basin on Monday. The administration also increased its law enforcement presence at the site.

Olympic athlete caught in the controversy

Among those arrested was David Carter Hearn, a 67-year-old three-time Olympic canoe-kayak athlete. Hearn told the Washington Post he had stopped by the refurbished pool and, out of curiosity, touched a piece of the peeling paint liner. He was taken into custody by US Park Police on a misdemeanor charge. Trump, however, cast Hearn and other detainees as vandals destroying state property, a claim Hearn disputes.

“I simply touched, out of curiosity, a piece of the new blue bottom that was already peeling off, intrigued by the material and the cause of the problem.”

Political and historical fallout

Opponents of the president seized on the episode as a metaphor for a failed presidency. Trump, for his part, blamed poor maintenance under the Biden and Obama administrations, even though Barack Obama had spent $34 million on a previous renovation of the site. The Reflecting Pool, designed by architect Henry Bacon over a century ago, was conceived as a sober mirror linking the Washington and Lincoln monuments and gained iconic status as the setting for Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech in 1963. The DC Water Authority confirmed the National Park Service had been issued permits to drain the pool again, though the timeline remains unclear.