Donald Trump and the Department of the Interior are facing increasing demands to release photographic and video evidence supporting their allegations of sabotage at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. The $14.7 million renovation project has been plagued by algae blooms, peeling paint, and dead ducks just days before the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations. Crews have been observed erecting fencing near the site.
Trump's Claims of Vandalism
On Wednesday, President Trump posted an image on his Truth Social platform that he claimed showed the pool before it was refilled. 'This is the hard rubber surface – No Paint – Before the Vandals cut and pulled it apart!' he wrote. In an earlier post, Trump alleged, without providing evidence, that a '350-foot gash' had been deliberately carved into the pool's lining. 'It was purposefully and criminally done and somebody had to work very hard, probably in the dark of night, to create such a condition,' he stated.
Trump promised that the Interior Department would release photographs and video to substantiate his claims. However, as of Wednesday afternoon, no such evidence had emerged. The New York Times reported that it had obtained government documents showing no indication that the peeling paint and algae blooms were intentionally caused, casting further doubt on Trump's assertions.
Senator Demands Documents
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and National Park Service acting director Jessica Bowron requesting documents related to the project. He described the renovation as 'marked by blatant corruption, a shocking lack of transparency, disregard for legal requirements, and apparent incompetence.' Blumenthal stated, 'The American people deserve to know how this occurred and what other issues plague the work NPS is currently undertaking in our nation's capital.'
Project Woes and Environmental Concerns
Trump had pledged to transform the century-old, 2,028-foot reflecting pool before the semiquincentennial festivities. He drained it and had its bottom coated in a color he personally selected and named 'American flag blue.' He declared the project complete on June 6, promising a gleaming expanse along the National Mall. However, a vivid green algae bloom soon clouded the water, obscuring the new blue lining, and pieces of the coating were observed peeling away. A section of liner roughly four square feet in area was seen partially floating on Friday.
A dead duckling was found floating in the water on Sunday, and the bodies of two more birds—a juvenile and an adult—were recovered from a pond about 250 feet away from the pool, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. The environmental group has called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to launch an immediate investigation and enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Tara Zuardo, a senior campaigner at the Center, said, 'Wasting taxpayer money turning the reflecting pool into a giant duck death trap just in time for America's 250th birthday party is as Trump as it gets. Cruel, stupid and selfish.'
Chemical Treatments and Contractor Issues
Workers have been attempting to combat the algae by pouring hydrogen peroxide into the pool—a chemical that can itself act as a paint remover. The Interior Department has also stated it is using 'high-tech nanobubble ozone technology' to cut off the algae's food supply. Experts have noted that the dark lining likely exacerbated the problem, absorbing more sunlight and raising the water temperature, creating conditions in which algae thrive.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the Virginia-based company in charge of the renovation, insisted that the affected areas represented 'a very small part of the massive seven-acre project, and do not indicate a failure of the liner.' It said it expected to carry out repairs once the pool is drained again, under the terms of its warranty. Trump awarded a no-bid contract to the company, which he said had previously done work on swimming pools at one of his golf clubs.
Security and Arrests
DC Water has issued a permit for the pool to be drained. Trump confirmed that 'some of the water' would be removed 'either immediately before or after the Fourth of July, to do the permanent repair,' though the scale, scope, and cost of those repairs remain unclear. The affair has drawn National Guard members and park police to patrol the deck around the pool since the weekend, when Trump first insisted that vandals were to blame. Fencing was also being erected around the site on Tuesday evening.
An Interior Department spokesperson, Katie Martin, told the Associated Press that the fencing 'was always set to be installed ahead of the Fourth of July,' but that it had been brought forward due to what she described as an 'increase in vandalism by leftist activists'—a claim for which she offered no evidence. Trump has repeatedly threatened severe consequences for anyone found to have harmed the pool. '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!' he wrote in one post.
Trump has asserted that six people have been arrested for allegedly damaging the pool. One has been confirmed: former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, who has claimed he reached into the pool merely to examine the peeling coating and was detained by National Guard troops and park police for five hours.
Criticism and Political Fallout
Paul Strauss, the senior U.S. shadow senator for the District of Columbia, commented, 'This was a botched job from the beginning. This is what happens when instead of going through the proper government contracting process you get your buddies from down the street at Mar-a-Lago to do a job quickly.'
