The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — the crown jewel of President Donald Trump’s sweeping effort to remake the nation’s capital ahead of America’s 250th birthday — is in crisis. Less than three weeks after Trump declared the pool’s $14.7 million renovation complete, the water has turned green with algae blooms, the newly applied “American flag blue” paint has peeled away from the pool’s concrete floor in chunks, and Trump is now saying the pool will likely need to be drained entirely for emergency repairs. He is blaming vandals.
“Work will begin immediately on fixing the seriously vandalized Reflecting Pool,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday, June 21. “I just inspected it, and could only say to myself, and those gathered around me, WOW, who would do such a thing? SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE! We will fix it.”
A Renovation That Unraveled Almost Immediately
Trump announced on June 6 that the renovation was complete. The project, awarded through a no-bid contract to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, involved painting the bottom of the historic pool a vibrant shade the president described as “American flag blue.” Federal contract records show the final price tag reached $14.7 million — nearly eight times the original estimate of $1.8 million, which Trump had promised would take only a week to execute.
The Department of the Interior awarded the contract without competitive bidding, and a National Park Service analysis later found the firm received a profit margin of roughly 20 percent — well above standard rates — adding an estimated $850,000 in unnecessary taxpayer costs. The project was funded through the Recreation Enhancement Fee Program, financed directly by national park visitor entrance fees.
Within days of the pool being refilled following the renovation, problems emerged. Instead of the deep blue color Trump envisioned, the water took on a murky green hue as an algae bloom rapidly spread across the shallow basin. Workers responded by deploying advanced nanobubbler technology and pouring hundreds of gallons of hydrogen peroxide into the pool in an attempt to clear the contamination. The Interior Department declared this week that the algae had been killed, but by Friday, clumps of the growth were still visible where National Park Service staff had scrubbed the basin floor.
The Paint Comes Apart
The algae was not the only visible failure. The industrial coating applied to the pool’s floor began peeling away from the concrete in large sections, with some gaps roughly the size of a park bench, revealing the original concrete beneath. The deteriorating paint mixed with the green-tinted water, turning the reflecting pool — one of the most visited landmarks in Washington — into a destination for all the wrong reasons.
On Saturday, Trump acknowledged the severity of the situation, writing that he had met with contractors to discuss the pool’s condition. “We met with contractors today, will probably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs, but will have them done as quickly as possible,” he posted on Truth Social.
The president also claimed, without providing evidence, that vandals had deliberately worsened the damage. “Many additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool,” Trump wrote, adding that someone had allegedly poured corrosive chemicals into the water.
An Olympian Gets Arrested at the Pool’s Edge
Among those accused of vandalism is David Carter Hearn, 67, a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, and a three-time Olympic canoeist who had been on a 50-mile bike ride when he stopped at the Reflecting Pool on Friday for a closer look. Hearn says he reached down to touch a strip of peeling blue paint that was still partially attached to the pool floor and mixed in with the algae.
U.S. Park Police arrested Hearn shortly after. He was held for more than four hours at a facility south of the National Mall, without being allowed to make a phone call or told the specific basis for his detention, he said. He was charged with destroying government property, a charge that can carry up to a 10-year prison sentence. Hearn denies any wrongdoing.
“I was just a curious, concerned citizen,” Hearn said. “I guess I was there at the wrong place, wrong time.”
Hearn compared his actions to those of Jonathan Karl, an ABC News reporter who lifted a detached piece of paint at the pool on Thursday in a video the network published. Hearn said he did not remove any material from the pool. “I didn’t remove anything,” he said. “I was bending and feeling this two-millimeter-thick, rubbery flap.” Until retiring 18 months ago, Hearn ran a company that manufactured specialized materials for building canoes, which he said made him particularly curious about the composition of the coating contractors had applied to the basin floor.
Following his arrest, Hearn said he received multiple offers of pro bono legal representation. “I’m getting a lot of support from my community,” he said. The administration has not publicly named others it claims were arrested in connection with the pool.
Part of a Larger Capital Makeover
The Reflecting Pool renovation is among the most high-profile components of Trump’s broader effort to transform Washington as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026. His plans include demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make room for a new ballroom and constructing a massive arch near Arlington National Cemetery, where the country honors its fallen service members and other prominent Americans.
Engineers and other experts had warned before work began that the hastily conceived project was unlikely to permanently resolve the problems that have plagued the Reflecting Pool for decades. Those concerns are now on prominent display. What began as a promise to modernize one of the capital’s most iconic military and civic landmarks — a site that stretches from the Lincoln Memorial toward the Washington Monument and has served as the backdrop for some of the most consequential moments in American history — has instead become a symbol of a renovation gone badly wrong, with the bill still climbing and the pool likely headed for another drain.