In April, President Donald Trump announced that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was being renovated to address long-standing cosmetic and structural issues. He initially promised a gleaming blue pool that would be fixed in a week at a cost of $1.5 million, much less than what previous administrations had paid for work on the national landmark.
But four months later the results of the project have not lived up to Trump’s rhetoric, which has in some cases become increasingly hyperbolic.
Here鈥檚 a look at his many claims and the facts around them.
Cost and time frame
TRUMP, on April 23 at an : 鈥淥ur job will take one week and will cost about a million and a half dollars.鈥�
THE FACTS: Work is ongoing 15 weeks later. The pool was in mid-July to address returning algae blooms and issues with a new coating that was peeling. Trump’s estimates of the project’s cost have increased as work has progressed, to 鈥渓ess than $20 million.鈥� Records show that more than $16 million worth of contracts have been awarded for the project so far.
Relationship with contractors
TRUMP, on April 23 in : “And I said, no, there’s a better way of doing it. I said, what we’re going to do is I’m going to call all three of these people that have worked for me in the past, doing swimming pools.
THE FACTS: Trump bragged on multiple occasions about calling up contractors he had worked with previously who could fix the pool and were awarded.
Ohio-based , also known as Greenwater Services, was given a $1.7 million contract to install a water-purification system in the Reflecting Pool, while Virginia-based was awarded $14.7 million to repaint and waterproof the pool鈥檚 concrete floor.
Trump later backtracked. He said in a on Truth Social, 鈥淚 didn’t give out the contract, 鈥業nterior鈥� did, to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before.鈥� At an unrelated Oval Office event on Aug. 3, the president doubled down. 鈥淎nd by the way, I didn’t know the contractor,” .
Spending by previous administrations
TRUMP, on May 27 at a : 鈥淭he Biden administration and the Obama administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get it to work, and they failed.鈥�
THE FACTS: . The Obama administration spent on a massive, two-year reconstruction project that ended in 2012. No major repairs to the pool were done during the Biden administration.
The work will be indestructible
TRUMP, on May 4 at a : 鈥淭his will last for at least 50 years and you鈥檒l never have a leak,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very strong. You couldn鈥檛 鈥� if you had a knife, I don鈥檛 want to give anybody ideas 鈥� if you had a knife you can鈥檛 even cut it.鈥�
THE FACTS: The president responded to reports about problems with the resurfacing by saying that the pool had been cut with a box cutter, knife, or sharp razor, resulting in either a giant gash 250- to or 鈥� over a very long 350-foot length.鈥�
Authorities made related to problems at the pool, including charging former Olympian David Hearn with one count of felony destruction. .
Trump also blamed vandals for the algae bloom that reoccurred after the pool was refilled, on June 22 that someone may have put chemicals in the water to 鈥渃reate the algae.鈥� Algae has been a problem with the pool for many years.
By the end of July, the cases were falling apart.
The Justice Department moved July 31 to against Hearn, saying evidence prosecutors had recently received refuted the idea that vandals were to blame.
Its 20-page filing from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said that additional documents provided by the Interior Department since Hearn’s indictment show that the damage was the result of a botched installation by a contractor as well as 鈥渢he rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the American 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026.鈥�
Judge Todd Edelman in Washington dismissed the case Thursday.
Charges have against three other people 鈥� Justin Carreno, Cameron Thiers and Sophie Dennison-Gibby 鈥� charged in the same D.C. court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the pool, according to online court records.
Trump has and vandals are responsible, saying that she 鈥渃hoked鈥� and 鈥渇olded like an umbrella.鈥�
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