In the months since President Trump vowed to restore the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, the century-old landmark has been plagued with problems, from bright green algae to peeling paint.
The saga began when the administration awarded no-bid contracts for the multimillion dollar project in an effort to complete renovations by the country’s 250th birthday celebrations on July 4. When problems surfaced, President Trump and his administration — without evidence — blamed “vandals,” accusing individuals of slashing the pool with a knife or razors “in the dead of night” and dumping fertilizer into the shallow water to promote algae growth.
Federal prosecutors charged at least four people with damaging the pool, including a former Olympian who faced a felony charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Then, in a stunning reversal, prosecutors dismissed that charge and said the damage was the result of a “botched” installation by federal contractors.
The pool remains empty. Here is how we got here.
April 3: Trump awards first no-bid contract to renovate the pool.
On April 3, a Virginia firm called Atlantic Industrial Coatings was hired to repair leaking joints between the pool’s concrete slabs, waterproof the pool’s bottom and paint it a color that Mr. Trump called “American flag blue.” The firm was awarded a no-bid contract, bypassing the requirement to seek competing offers through a mechanism that contracting experts called highly unusual and typically reserved for desperate cases where work must start immediately to protect lives.
Mr. Trump at first said he chose the firm, which had never previously held a federal contract, because it had repaired a pool at one of his golf clubs. He later reversed himself and said he did not know the firm. The company added a 20 percent profit margin to the its bill, which has totaled $14.7 million so far.
April 13: Trump awards second no-bid contract.
Greenwater Services of Brookfield, Ohio, was awarded a $1.7 million no-bid contract to install a water purification system meant to combat algae. The owner of that firm is a donor to Mr. Trump and a neighbor to Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club in Florida.
May 7: Trump inspects work, driving motorcade on surface of empty pool.
Mr. Trump’s motorcade drove over the drained, coated reflecting pool as he surveyed the state of the renovations.
June 4: Pool is refilled.
Mr. Trump showed reporters the reflecting pool being filled with water.
Early June: Algae turns the pool green.
Days after the project to coat the base of the pool blue was completed, clumps of algae appeared on the surface, giving it a green hue. Initially, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department said the algae was “residual” and came from supply lines that sat dormant during the renovations.
But contributing to the algae bloom was the removal of temporary water-purification devices called nanobubblers, enormous machines that were brought in to clear the pool. These devices, which infused the water with tiny bubbles of ozone gas to kill algae and bacteria, were removed during the time that a promotional event connected to an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the White House was planned at the Lincoln Memorial on June 12.
Once the algae began growing, it proved difficult to eliminate, even with the nanobubblers back online. Park Service workers tried dumping jugs of hydrogen peroxide into the water to clear the algae more quickly. But the peroxide largely dissolved before it could reach the large clumps in the middle of the basin. The algae remained for about a week before the water became clear again.
A more discreet water purification system is now being used.
June 9: Surface of pool appears to be failing.
On June 9, Park Service workers discovered holes, cracks and peeling caulking in parts of the pool, along with cuts in sections of foam, according to government documents. A few days later, they also noticed that chunks of blue sealant that covered the bottom of the pool were peeling and floating to the surface.
June 19: An Olympian is arrested after touching peeling paint.
David Carter Hearn, a three-time Olympian who said he stopped at the pool on June 19 to take a look, was arrested after he reached down to touch a strip of the peeling blue paint. Mr. Hearn was charged with “destruction of property $1,000 or more.” His lawyers called the charges “outrageous” and said, “This indictment reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures.”
Three other people were charged with misdemeanors in connection with destroying the pool. According to court records, the defendants were observed peeling and removing pieces of paint from the Reflecting Pool.
June 23: Trump blames “vandals” for deteriorating conditions.
The cause of the cuts was unclear, but on June 23, Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that six people had been arrested for damaging the pool. He said there was a “350 foot gash, made by a very sharp knife or razors.” He also blamed the algae blooms on “vandals,” who he said had dumped fertilizer into the pool to fuel their growth.
While Mr. Trump squarely pointed blame on vandals, he provided no evidence to support the assertion, and experts said that the problems could have been caused by the pool’s quick overhaul.
July 10: Pool is drained.
On July 10, crews were observed draining the pool again to complete more renovations. Officials said firework debris from July 4 celebrations would be cleared and the peeling coating would be addressed.
July 31: Charges dropped, and pool is empty.
On Friday, the U.S. attorney in Washington, Jeanine Pirro, said she was seeking to dismiss the charge against Mr. Hearn because prosecutors had been misled by the Interior Department about the source of the damage to the pool.
Ms. Pirro said that the pool’s blue coating had in fact started to peel within two days of the project’s completion, and that the Interior Department kept that information from prosecutors and instead told them that “nearly all of the damage” was done by vandals. Ms. Pirro blamed the damage on a “flawed installation” and “the rush to complete the project” by July 4.
Aug. 1: Trump again blames damage on “vandalism.”
After Ms. Pirro moved to drop the charge, Mr. Trump doubled down, saying in a Truth Social post that most of the damage was caused by vandals. “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro,” he wrote. “I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM.”
Recently, the pool was fenced off and drained so the lining could be inspected and repaired. It will remain closed until Aug. 10, according to a court filing from the Interior Department.