President Donald Trump has claimed “vandals” poured chemicals into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after his own team used bleach to treat the algae plaguing the multi-million-dollar renovation project.
Trump had promised the pool would be “the most beautiful thing that you’ve ever seen” after the shallow basin was painted what he called American flag blue. But just days after the project was finished, algae turned the pool green, and the American flag blue paint chipped away.
Amid the blowback from a renovation project gone awry, the Trump administration has poured hydrogen peroxide into the pool to deal with the algae and thrown around accusations of vandalism to suggest that it was sabotage, not shoddy craftsmanship, that caused this new headache.
“Of the MANY Statues and Fountains that we rebuilt, renovated, cleaned, and fixed, the only one that was Vandalized was the Reflecting Pool, which is being taken care of, ASAP!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday.
Trump claimed “chemicals have been illegally placed in the water” and that a 300-foot-long gash was made in the basin.
It’s unclear what chemicals Trump has accused vandals of pouring into the water, but the administration has already dumped some of its own into the pool.
Last week, workers were seen pouring gallon bottles of hydrogen peroxide into the roughly 2,000-foot pool. The Interior Department said “advanced nanobubbler technology” was also used to fix the issue.
In an X post Wednesday, the Interior Department said the technology “very effectively killed the algae” and the pool was now “crystal clear.”
The agency admitted there was more work to do, as a National Park Service team still had to vacuum up algae on some parts of the pool. Photos taken of the pool since the social media announcement appear to show large swaths of the basin tinted green.
Trump also said in Monday’s post that the “beautiful” grass on the National Mall was “destroyed with a gigantic 86 47 chemically carved into it (Probably inspired by Dirty Cop, James Comey!).”
The president was referring to a federal indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, alleging that a photo he posted on social media in May 2025 of seashells on the beach that read “86 47” amounts to making threats to harm Trump. Comey has maintained his innocence and vowed to fight the charges against him.
“Please remember that there is a 10 year prison sentence for the destruction, or even the attempted destruction, of such things – Which will be fully enforced!” Trump wrote in his post about the alleged Reflecting Pool vandalism.
Trump said on Truth Social over the weekend that U.S. Park Police “arrested multiple individuals” for vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.
Former U.S. Olympic canoe racer David Hearn of Bethesda, Maryland, was among those arrested. He told The Washington Post he was detained for five hours on Friday for a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.
“It’s a completely unfounded accusation. It’s a lie,” Hearn told the Daily Mail. “I didn’t rip, tear, destruct, destroy, or harm in any way, any part of the reflecting pool.”
He said he did touch a “loose flap of coating” on the basin, but only did so as a “concerned citizen.”
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., warned against vandalizing government property on Fox News’The Sunday Briefing.
“If there are more serious products that are put into the reflecting pool to create more algae or a bigger problem, then we’ll consider more serious charges.
“But make no mistake, making D.C. beautiful is a priority, and if you damage, vandalize or do anything to impact something like the Reflecting Pool, you can be prosecuted,” Pirro said.
Trump has said the pool will likely have to be drained for repairs. The renovations have already cost his administration more than $14 million, according to reports.
The pool is just one of several major projects around Washington, D.C., that Trump has undertaken.
He has demolished the East Wing of the White House to build a massive and expensive ballroom and paved over the Rose Garden for a Mar-a-Lago-style patio.
Trump has also proposed a 250-foot arch at the end of Arlington Memorial Bridge, across from the Lincoln Memorial. The giant structure will be topped with a golden winged figure flanked by two gilded eagles.
“Our country is about beauty, cleanliness, safety, great people. Not a filthy capital,” Trump told reporters last month when defending the ornamental Reflecting Pool project as Americans struggled with high gas prices amid the Iran war.
