Trump Says Reflecting Pool Might Be Drained Again To Fix Damaged Paint
Key takeaways
- Breaking News Trump Says Reflecting Pool Might Be Drained Again To Fix Damaged Paint By Zachary Folk,
- The president said the government would “probably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs.”
- The renovations were completed and the pool was refilled by June 5, but just days later algae made it appear a shade of green—a persistent problem in the past.
Breaking News Trump Says Reflecting Pool Might Be Drained Again To Fix Damaged Paint By Zachary Folk,
Topline President Donald Trump said the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool might need to be drained again to repair damage to the over $14 million of renovations to the structure—just 16 days after the government refilled it following a project that made the bottom “American Flag Blue.”
A National Park Service employee uses a vacuum to clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool near a missing section of blue coating on Friday in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.Key FactsIn a series of posts on Truth Social on Saturday night, Trump blamed damage to the blue material lining the Reflecting Pool on “vandals,” whom he claimed “put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade” with a knife and poured “corrosive and destructive chemicals” into the water.