The president’s issue-plagued renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool will not be finished in time for July 4, according to one of the contractors involved, frustrating the Trump administration’s push to spruce up Washington monuments ahead of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
“It will not be before the celebrations, that’s for sure,” Francois Rivard, vice president of Rhino Linings, which supplied the spray-on lining used to refinish the landmark pool, told POLITICO. “It would be up to [the National Park Service] to tell you exactly when they plan … but it’s in a matter of weeks, not years.”
Despite weeks of work, algae has continued to cloud the surface of the pool, and the pool’s newly redone bottom has been cracking and peeling off, a phenomenon President Trump claims is the work of vandals who he says cut a 350-foot gash into the monument.
“Atlantic Industrial Coatings in conjunction with the US Park Service has identified some areas in the Reflecting Pool that require repairs,” Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the Virginia-based contractor overseeing the renovation, wrote in a statement on Sunday on its website. “These areas are a very small part of the massive 7 acre project, and do not indicate a failure of the liner.”
“These repairs can not be made until the pool is drained,” the company added. “As soon as its feasible for the Park, the pool will be drained and AIC will be back to make those needed repairs as part of the warranty.”
The president himself has acknowledged the delays.
“The Reflecting Pool is as beautiful as it can be,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “We will drain some of the water, either immediately before or after the Fourth of July, to do the permanent repair.”
“The administration is working to assess the extent of the damaged areas and will make the repairs as quickly as possible,” a Trump administration official told The Independent.
The Independent has contacted the Department of the Interior and Atlantic Industrial Coatings for comment.
The administration continues to insist that malicious actors are responsible for damage to the pool.
“The 350 foot gash, made by a very sharp knife or razors, is actually numerous slashes over a very long 350 foot length,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “It was purposefully and criminally done, and somebody had to work very hard, probably in the dark of night, to create such a condition. Likewise, the small area at the bottom of the Pool was cut and powerfully lifted off the surface leaving very jagged, uneven edges.”
Six people have been arrested for damaging the pool, and seven have been cited, according to the president. Trump has also suggested the pool has been a target of paid “pro-algae” protesters.
One of those arrested claims he was wrongly accused.
Former Olympian canoe slalom athlete David Hearn says he touched a “loose flap of coating” because he was “curious as a concerned citizen” then was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor.
“It’s a completely unfounded accusation,” Hearn told The Daily Mail. “We’ve already heard many lies from this administration…That’s just another lie.”
A stepped-up law enforcement presence now surrounds the pool. Park Police, National Guard troops, and a U.S. Marshal have all been seen patrolling the area.
Surveillance cameras have also been installed near the pool, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Workers have been seen pouring hydrogen peroxide into the pool and scooping out algae with nets, and the administration has touted a “nanobubbler” system it claims will get the pool’s algae in check.
On Tuesday, President Trump posted photos of the Reflecting Pool without any visible algae on its surface.
“These pictures were taken this morning!” he wrote on Truth Social.
On Monday, the president threatened to sue ABC News over its coverage of the pool, falsely claiming the network failed to mention that Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden “spent over 100 Million Dollars” fixing the pool. The Biden administration did not do major work on the pool at all, and the Obama administration spent about $35 million on renovation work.
Even as scrutiny mounts over the Reflecting Pool project, which the administration funded using an expedited no-bid contract, the president has continued to talk about his Washington renovation projects more than the Iran war, according to a recent analysis.
The president’s other signature construction projects in the capital have proved similarly fraught.
Lawsuits have temporarily stopped construction on the White House ballroom and the Kennedy Center, which was forced to undo the president’s attempt to add his name to the institution.
The Justice Department has argued in federal appeals court that the ballroom should move forward, citing the need for the renovations after an alleged terror plot aimed at the recent White House UFC fight was thwarted.
