President Donald Trump says the newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool needs to be drained for more repairs, blaming “terrible Vandals” for damage he says includes corrosive chemicals and a long gash. The remarks follow reports and images showing blu
For a landmark meant to look pristine in the nation’s 250th-anniversary run-up, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is now back at the center of a different kind of controversy.
On Truth Social on Saturday. June 20. President Donald Trump said the recently refurbished Reflecting Pool “probably” needs to be drained again so more repairs can be made. He pointed to “terrible Vandals. ” saying many of those people had been arrested. and he described what he called “disgraceful Vandalism” as an affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Trump said “many additional people have been arrested” in connection with the damage. After meeting with contractors. he said the pool. which he described as having “worked perfectly. ” had been severely damaged by corrosive and destructive chemicals poured into it. along with “a gash” in its surface.
He added that the harm “does not even include the earlier killing of a large amount of grass,” calling that outcome the “least of it.” In a post on Truth Social, Trump said someone “took some form of knife or blade” and put a 250 foot long gash into the Reflecting Pool’s facade.
Multiple photos and videos over the past week showed newly applied blue paint peeling away from the pool’s surface amid an algae bloom. The algae problem is not new; algae at the pool has been a recurring issue for decades.
Trump said repairs would be completed “as quickly as possible.” He also suggested the additional work is coming roughly two weeks after he said the Reflecting Pool renovation had been finished, part of a broader effort to spruce up the landmark ahead of events marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The latest push for repairs comes after Trump had previously announced the transformation in April. At the time, he said the Reflecting Pool had been subject to complaints about leaks and lack of cleanliness.
The renewed controversy has been tied closely to the renovation’s cost and design choices from the start. The project, according to government contract records, has topped $16 million. It also sparked debate over the decision to paint the bottom of the water feature “American Flag Blue. ” a choice now drawing attention amid reports of peeling paint and ongoing algae.
The sequence of events—from contractor completion remarks to new visible deterioration, and then Trump’s call to drain the pool again—has put the renovation back under the spotlight, with attention splitting between claims of vandalism and the long-running challenge of algae at the site.
Trump Reflecting Pool Lincoln Memorial renovation vandalism Truth Social algae bloom American Flag Blue contractors George Washington Abraham Lincoln 250th anniversary
so they repainted it then it started peeling?? that’s kinda wild
Terrible vandals… but also like why is there blue paint peeling already? feels like both can be true and nobody wants to say the contractors messed up.
Wait so the pool is full of chemicals and a knife gash?? I saw a clip where it looked like algae and thought it was just “normal maintenance” like every fountain in DC. But if they’re draining it again that’s basically admitting the whole renovation was rushed.
Blue American Flag paint should’ve never been a thing, honestly. Also the article keeps saying vandals were arrested but the pool already had algae forever?? so which is it, sabotage or old problems. my head hurts.