Costing $14.8 million, less than two weeks after the renovation of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial in the United States, large areas of peeling skin appeared on the pool’s bottom coating. The quality of the work was concerning, but President Donald Trump “punched down” on the crowd who came to watch the event. A former American Olympic athlete was also arrested by police for touching the peeled materials.
According to The Associated Press, on June 20, Trump claimed that several people had deliberately damaged the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial, and those involved were arrested by federal law enforcement agencies.
Trump said that during the terms of office of previous presidents, this reflecting pool had always been stained green due to algae growth. He ordered that the bottom of the pool be painted blue like the American flag, so that the water could better reflect the nearby Washington Monument.
However, contrary to expectations, less than two weeks after the newly renovated pool was officially unveiled, the blue color on the surface quickly faded away, returning to the familiar green of algae. Workers applied chemical agents to remove the algae, but the new blue coating on the pool floor began to peel off in patches.
The above image is a satellite image of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial on June 10, 2023. The image below is a satellite image taken on June 7, 2026. AFP
On the evening of the 19th, Trump posted on social media discussing this reflecting pool and accused it of being deliberately damaged. Just three days prior, someone had damaged the lawn along the pool. They also used various means to destroy the newly laid inner wall of the pool.
But he did not provide any evidence to support his claim.
American media video screenshot
He posted: "This is exactly the same as the incident where unknown substances were poured onto the lawn in National Square earlier. Someone deliberately put similar substances into the reflecting pool, intent on damaging and defiling our beautiful renovation project."
Trump referred to the numbers left on the National Mall lawn recently. U.S. law enforcement agencies say these numbers are seen as a threat to Trump, the 47th President of the United States. In American slang, “86” means “to get rid of or drive away”. The investigation is still underway.
On June 20th, Trump posted another message, in which he mistakenly spelled "Pool" as "Poll". He stated that the park police had arrested several suspects involved in the vandalism. The spelling error in his post was later corrected.
Trump continued, "What kind of person would commit such a thing? Damaging national memorial buildings is an extremely serious crime, and the perpetrator will face many years in prison!"
After Trump posted this, he admitted that the reflecting pool needs to be repaired again in order to regain its former "equally beautiful appearance". He wrote: "We have met with the construction contractor today, and it is very likely that most of the water in the pool will need to be drained in order to carry out the necessary repairs. We will urge the contractor to complete the work as soon as possible."
Over the past few days, the poor condition of the reflecting pool has continued to generate negative public opinion. Many television stations have come to film, and a large number of citizens have come specially to watch.
According to The Washington Post, on June 21, a large number of law enforcement officers were stationed around the reflecting pool throughout the day. This included park police, sheriff's deputies, and personnel from several states. They patrolled along the pool, both on foot and by horse.
At around 1:30 PM that afternoon, a reporter from the Washington Post witnessed a park police officer on horseback issuing a ticket to a young man for picking up items from the pond. The officer told the man who was traveling with his family, "You won't be going to jail today, because you cooperated fully with the law enforcement."
The day before yesterday, a reporter from that newspaper witnessed a federal sheriff holding a woman at the scene. The woman was accused of picking up paint from the pool and allegedly committing intentional destruction. The woman argued with the law enforcement officers, stating that the coating floating on the water surface appeared to be just trash.
On the left is a photo of David Hearn during the competition. On the right is a green-reflected pool.
According to the Associated Press, one of the arrested individuals is 67-year-old David Hurn, who lives in Maryland and operates a company that manufactures materials for rowing boats. He was a former rowing athlete who competed in the Olympics for the United States three times. He claimed that he rode 64 miles to the Mirror Pool on the 19th.
Hearn said that he reached out to touch the pool water just to check the newly peeled coating. He gently touched a piece of blue coating on the pool wall that was not completely fallen off, and immediately withdrew his hand after being dissuaded by the park staff.
According to Hearn, the National Guard members and park police detained him for five hours before releasing him that night.
"I'm just a curious ordinary citizen," Heen said, "I reached out and touched the coating, and the feel was particularly like rubber."
Hern said that he needs to appear in court next month to respond to the lawsuit, and is currently looking for a lawyer to assist him.
The reporter from "Fortress" picked up a piece of "national flag blue" substrate material that had fallen off from the pool.
On the 19th, reporters from the anti-Trump media outlet 'Bulwark' started live broadcasts and discovered that in the turbid green water, large patches of blue coating were rising to the surface from the bottom of the pond.
Previously, the process of selecting the contractor for the renovation project caused controversy. According to government documents cited by The New York Times, the Trump administration did not conduct a public bidding process but directly awarded the contract for the renovation project to Atlantic Industrial Coatings in Virginia. This company had no experience in government projects.
Public records show that Atlantic Industrial Coatings had cooperation with Trump and participated in the construction project of Trump’s National Golf Club in Virginia.
