President Donald Trump expressed confidence this week that renovation work on the Lincoln Memorial’s iconic Reflecting Pool is near completion, after multiple setbacks dragged out the restoration.
The multimillion-dollar resurfacing and painting project to give the Reflecting Pool a facelift ahead of the U.S.’s 250th birthday began in April. The effort quickly became beleaguered by an algae bloom, and the pool’s new blue paint appeared to be peeling off, leading to allegations of extensive vandalism and another round of renovations.
In an update on the project, Trump said he believes contractors will fill the pool again this week, saying, “I think it’s almost complete from what I understand.”
“I’m going to visit,” he told reporters. “The Reflecting Pool is totally complete … we went and got rid of all of the old pipes, which we were going to do later, and during the winter we did it.”
Though he has acknowledged “some contractor error” and “some contractor difficulty,” Trump has long placed the brunt of the blame for the project’s setbacks on vandalism. U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro sought to bring a case against alleged vandals, but later dropped it. She said the disputed damage to the landmark was the “result of flawed installation by the contractor,” and blamed workers for their “rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day.”
Trump on Tuesday again placed the blame on vandals.
“Well, we had vandalism there, and we have it about as vandal-proof as you can get,” he said. “But only sick people do that, and we have their pictures.”
The project has aimed to restore the pool and coat the bottom with “American flag blue” paint. But the renovation hit roadblocks when the paint appeared to float to the pool’s surface in clumps after being refilled, and algae blooms turned the water green, forcing crews to redo the work.