Jaw-Dropping Scale of Trump’s Reflecting Pool Fiasco Exposed
An inspection has uncovered at least 85 failures in Trump’s $14.7 Reflecting Pool.
Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images
The full scale of Donald Trump’s $14.7 million Reflecting Pool fiasco has been exposed.
A 75-page report, commissioned by Atlantic Coating Inspection, and obtained by The Washington Post, documents widespread peeling, bubbling and buckling in the blue coating installed this summer.
It also contradicts the administration’s repeated claims that vandals were responsible, making no mention of vandalism as a cause of the failures.
The report found that the coating had buckled along eight of the pool’s 10 expansion joints, while blisters appeared in nearly 40 places and peeling affected almost two dozen more.
Investigators said some of the damage likely occurred because workers were still applying the coating just a day before the pool was refilled on June 4. The material required 72 hours to cure fully.
Photos included in the report show workers still spraying the coating on June 3, just a day before the pool was refilled, with work continuing as water began flowing in.
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The renovation was carried out by Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings under a $14.7 million no-bid contract awarded by the Trump administration.
The deep green state of the algae-ridden Reflecting Pool.
Annabelle Gordon/REUTERS
The project was rushed to finish ahead of celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Trump had announced plans in April to tackle the pool’s long-running algae problem by resurfacing its more than 300,000-square-foot basin in what he called “American Flag Blue”. Work began late that month.
The basin was coated first with a light blue primer called Rhino 406, and then a darker blue finish called Rhino Pipeliner 5000.
Federal contract documents confirm the government required contractors to use those specific products.
The body of a dead baby duck floats in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Aaron Schwartz/REUTERS
By early June, the pool had been refilled, but within days an enormous algal bloom turned the water green. Flakes of blue coating soon began floating to the surface.
Officials tried adding hydrogen peroxide to address the algae. At least three dead ducklings were later found in the water.
The administration publicly blamed vandalism for the coating failures.
In a post on Truth Social in June, Trump claimed that “many additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool.“
He claimed there was a “250 foot long gash” and that “They also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool.”
In July, federal prosecutors charged four people accused of damaging the liner, including former Olympic canoeist David Hearn.
The charges were subsequently dismissed, with U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro admitting in a 20-page motion to dismiss that prosecutors would not have indicted Hearn had they known contractor errors were responsible for the damage.
Trump was furious. He accused Pirro of “folding like an umbrella” and summoned her to the Oval Office to explain herself.
Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn (center) faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted of intentionally damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
He later acknowledged there had been “some contractor error,” but maintained that it accounted for only a small portion of the damage.
The pool was drained after the July Fourth celebrations, allowing inspectors to examine the new lining in detail. Their assessment identified 85 points of failure and a further 88 instances of damage.
Most were minor, but 12 cuts went through the coating to the concrete.
The area where Hearn was accused of vandalism was found to have 22 defects.
The report blamed the peeling and cracking on several possible problems, including coating that was not flexible enough for the pool’s expansion joints, poor application and insufficient drying time.
The report also found that the pool’s perimeter caulking came loose after being submerged too soon, despite needing five to seven days to dry.
It did not say who ordered the pool to be refilled early or whether the risks had been discussed.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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