WASHINGTON — Democratic members of Congress moved Wednesday to launch formal investigations into the chaotic renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the latest development in a weeks-long controversy surrounding the president’s $16 million rehabilitation effort.
Legislators in both the House and Senate pressed for accountability in the troubled project, even as the White House has continued to point fingers at unnamed vandals — without backing up the claim — for problems including peeling paint. President Donald Trump announced that six people have been arrested in connection with the matter, though he offered no further details. A local wildlife nonprofit also performed necropsies on ducks found dead near the pool. Trump has suggested the pool may need to be drained yet again for further repair work.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the leading Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, took aim at the Trump administration over no-bid contracts tied to the Reflecting Pool project, arguing those contracts went to vendors who had prior relationships with Trump.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and acting Park Service Director Jessica Bowron, Blumenthal wrote that National Park Service projects carried out at Trump’s direction in the Washington area “have been marked by blatant corruption, a shocking lack of transparency, disregard for legal requirements and apparent incompetence.”
“Rushed no-bid contracts given to unqualified vendors with previous relationships to the president resulted in a reflecting pool more covered with algae than before, with freshly painted chunks of paint peeling from the bottom to float on the pool’s surface,” Blumenthal stated.
He went on to say that the nation’s capital “will now celebrate America’s 250th birthday with an empty reflecting pool, a testament to incompetence and corruption.”
Ohio-based Green Water Solutions received a $1.7 million contract to put in a water-purification system at the pool, while Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded $14.7 million to repaint and waterproof the concrete floor.
California Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said both contractors have connections to Trump entities.
Trump had promised to spruce up the century-old Reflecting Pool in advance of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations. The pool was drained and its floor was painted a color Trump called “American flag blue.” However, once the pool was refilled, it developed a significant algae bloom and sections of the new coating began peeling away from the bottom.
Neither the White House nor the Interior Department responded to requests for comment regarding the Democrats’ allegations.
Trump has repeatedly — and without evidence — attributed the peeling paint to deliberate sabotage, including what he described as a “350-foot gash” in the liner. His administration is facing a self-imposed deadline to finish the renovation before July 4th, and Trump said the federal government would release images to support his vandalism claim. As of Wednesday, no such images had been made public.
On Wednesday, Trump said “sick people” used razors and box cutters to cut sections of the lining. He said he was uncertain whether the pool would need to be drained before or after the July 4 holiday, when tens of thousands of visitors are expected to gather at the National Mall.
“Donald Trump’s disastrous renovation of our national reflecting pool is his latest failed vanity project,” Garcia said, describing the expenditure as a waste of taxpayer money.
The owner of Green Water Solutions, John Cafaro, is a Trump donor who resides near Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private Florida club.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings is owned by Curtis “Eddie” Wood. The company said this week that it has identified areas within the Reflecting Pool requiring additional work, and that repairs will be made once the pool is drained. No timeline for that draining has been established.
Amid the push for investigations, Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado called on Trump to personally pay back American taxpayers for the cost of the pool renovations, which he labeled “a national embarrassment.”
In a letter addressed to Trump, Hickenlooper wrote that Americans expect their tax dollars “to fix roads, support schools and protect our public lands.” He added: “They do not expect to bankroll failed presidential vanity projects. The bill for this fiasco should only belong to you, Mr. President.”
