President Donald Trump acknowledged “real problems” at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Friday, blaming vandalism for an algae bloom and peeling paint that have marred the site’s $14.2 million renovation, which he had promised would turn the water “American flag blue.”
In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform Friday night, Trump wrote that his administration had “cleaned, renovated, and beautified over 45 Monuments and Memorials, 28 Statues, and 22 Fountains in Washington, DC.” He said the administration had “had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool, which sits between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial.”
Trump noted that “86 47” — a reference to the restaurant-industry term for “stop” and his status as the 47th president — had recently been etched onto a nearby patch of grass. He alleged, without evidence, that people had “also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface” of the pool.
“No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work,” Trump alleged, again without evidence.
Trump claimed the algae problem was “75% gone” and would soon be “completely remedied.” He said law enforcement was “actively investigating this situation” and would “hopefully have it resolved soon.” The Department of the Interior did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The acknowledgment came days after the Interior Department declared on social media that “advanced nanobubbler technology” had “very effectively killed the algae,” adding: “Our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the Reflecting Pool — just like the destroyed Iranian Navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf.”
In reality, much of the water remained murky later in the week, with algae still visible in some areas and large flakes of paint peeling from the basin and floating on the surface. The Atlantic reported that laboratory testing it commissioned identified the algae as Scenedesmus, a genus of green algae.
The project has also come under scrutiny over its contracting process. The New York Times reported that the Trump administration had awarded a no-bid contract to a business tied to a longtime supporter of the president to install the water-purification system in the pool.
Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor who ran against Trump and JD Vance as the running mate of Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, wrote on X: “Found an imaginary problem, said only they could fix it, didn’t listen to experts, hired buddies who grifted millions, failed miserably, bragged how great it went. The entire Trump presidency in a nutshell.”