President Donald Trump once promised that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s new surface would last for decades without leaks.
But the cracks started to show days after his big reveal of the newly repainted pool in May.
Months later, workers are still dealing with problems at the landmark, where peeling sections of paint and growing algae have turned it into what some call a cesspool.
The ongoing work undercuts the administration’s repeated assurances that the troubled renovation was nearly complete.
Instead, the National Mall centerpiece remains drained, fenced off, and represents another missed promise.
Trump spent weeks pointing fingers at vandals over the Reflecting Pool’s peeling “American flag blue” liner.
But now the no-bid contractors he hired say the damage came from their own mistakes and a flawed repair plan, according to the New York Times.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings told the administration that errors in its work and problems with the renovation’s design caused the liner to peel and detach.
Workers applied too little primer in some areas, while the repair plan paired incompatible chemicals. The top layer became hotter than the compound beneath it could withstand, causing it to blister and break loose.
Scott MacFarlane, chief Washington correspondent for MeidasTouch News, visited the site on Sept. 10.
While there, he found Trump’s splashy makeover remained stuck in repair mode, pointing to brown, muddy water from rainfall
“It is still a work in progress,” MacFarlane reported. “The thing is, we don’t see a lot of progress.”
With sections of tarp removed, MacFarlane said visitors could finally see the Reflecting Pool’s construction-site chaos instead of reflective water.
MacFarlane added, “There’s no firm timetable for when this thing will be finished.”
That reality did not escape critics on X.
“Omg, two months on and they still haven’t fixed it?” one person asked. Another wrote, “Looks like a literal swamp.”
“Seems almost like it’s not ahead of schedule and under budget anymore,” said one person, poking fun at Trump’s past claims during briefings.
Another critic offered a harsher review: “The reflecting pool is the perfect example of how Trump works. Trump tears into something that doesn’t need fixing, fu@ks it all up, gets bored, and leaves the mess for everyone else.”
Others were satisfied with the contractors admitting fault and taking responsibility for the mess they were hired to clean up.
“You mean Trump was lying about vandals!?” blasted one person.
“The contractor admitted fault. I wouldn’t consider them incompetent, just bullied into a project that they will never see the end of…. Or recover from,” said one Trump critic.
Trump fast-tracked the renovation ahead of America’s 250th birthday celebration on July 4. The pool received an unnatural “American flag blue” coating as part of a project that ultimately topped more than $14 million.
Within weeks, algae returned, and sections of the new material began peeling.
David “Davey” Hearn, a three-time Olympian, reached into the water and touched a section of loose coating before police arrested him.
Prosecutors initially accused him of causing more than $1,000 in damage. Hearn maintained that the material had already detached.
The government’s case unraveled after Interior Department records showed that the coating had begun failing before Hearn touched it.
Prosecutors attributed the damage to overspraying, poor bonding, and a rushed job by his no-bid contractors. They concluded the problems stemmed from a flawed installation, not vandalism.
Though Hearn pleaded not guilty and saw the initial indictment thrown out, federal prosecutors returned to court this month seking to keep the door open for future charges.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd E. Edelman challenged the government to explain what evidence could ever justify reviving the case, leading Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence to concede he lacked a “very satisfying answer” beyond suggesting the ongoing repairs might uncover something new.
Despite the DOJ’s own admission that flawed installation caused the damage, Trump refused to let the vandalism theory float away.
“They did a beautiful job,” he said in August. “There were a couple of little things, but that was not a big deal. And everybody saw the vandalism. All you have to do is look at the tape.”
However, Trump never publicly produced footage showing Hearn causing the widespread damage. He later acknowledged that his administration lacked proof for at least some of its claims.
“There was substantial other damage to the Reflecting Pool, also, but unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage itself,” Trump wrote.
He also conceded that rushing the project caused “some contractor errors.” However, he claimed it was only a small area, calling the damage “relatively inconsequential.”
That was quite a pivot. Trump went from pointing to supposedly obvious evidence to admitting there was no video or proof. He also quietly added contractor error to the suspect list.
Trump then attacked U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for dropping the case.
At a September news conference, Pirro repeatedly refused to discuss Trump’s demand that she revisit the case against Hearn.
Trump had accused Pirro of “choking” after prosecutors attributed the damage to faulty construction rather than vandalism.
With a judge considering whether to permanently dismiss the case, Pirro told reporters, “No! No and no!” before ending the questioning, according to Yahoo News.
Hearn’s attorneys want the dismissal entered “with prejudice,” which would bar the government from prosecuting an “innocent man” again.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, want to keep the door open, although they have not identified what new evidence might justify reviving the case.
Trump claimed in late August that the pool was “almost completely fixed.” But workers, machinery and an unfinished surface remain visible at the site, suggesting that “almost” is doing enough labor to qualify for overtime.
As MacFarlane put it, the pool is attracting “rubberneckers” who want to see “the scope and size of the damage.”
For now, Washington’s most famous reflective surface reflects one thing clearly: the fiasco is not finished.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool remains an unmitigated mess pic.twitter.com/JMyAn47iNn
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) September 10, 2026
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