Jon Stewart was stunned by a surprising new figure in Trump’s algae-infested pool disaster.
Trump announced in April that he would be renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, telling his Truth Social followers, “We were told it was going to take YEARS to do this job, and it will take a fraction of that time, at a fraction of the cost.”
Over two months and more than $16 million later, the pool is covered in algae and sheets of blue paint flakes. One official noted that the blue paint in the pool Trump ordered could’ve contributed to higher water temperatures, worsening the algae growth beyond usual summer levels.
In his monologue Monday, Stewart zeroed in on one of the companies Trump hired to clean the pool: Greenwater Services, an Ohio-based company owned by the J.J. Cafaro Investment Trust, led by Republican donor John J. Cafaro.
Stewart later played a CNN clip reporting that Cafaro had donated “more than $300,000 to political committees tied to the president” and had pled guilty to conspiracy to bribe a congressman in 2001.
“The pool guy bribed the congressman and now he gets the pool? That tracks,” Stewart said.
Breaking into an impression of a mobster, Stewart joked, “What do I do? I don’t know. Let’s just say I’m... in the chlorine management business.”
Katie Martin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of the Interior, told the New York Times that the Trump White House was not involved in the selection of Cafaro’s company.
Greenwater Services “was selected because they had the expertise, work force and materials” needed, Martin said.
The company had been given a $1.7 million contract from the federal government to install a new water cleaning. Cafaro told an Ohio-based newspaper last week that his relationship with Trump had nothing to do with why Greenwater Services was picked.
“There is no one else in the world that does what we do,” Cafaro said, referring to the company’s patented “Nano Bubble Ozone Technology.”
Cafaro said of Trump and Greenwater Services, “He is my friend and he doesn’t know a thing about it. I would never talk to him about it. I’d never put him in that position.”
Another no-bid contract for $14.7 million was awarded by the federal government to Atlantic Industrial Coatings. The company was hired to spread the blue waterproofing material on the pool’s floor, much of which has since floated up to the surface.
The National Park Service explained in a public filing that the “urgency” of America’s upcoming 250th birthday allowed them to bypass a bidding competition for both companies. The Times noted, however, that the Park Service “did not give a specific date by which the system had to be installed.”
“Does Trump do business with anyone normal?” Stewart asked.
The Daily Show host joked about Cafaro’s appearance: “It’s like Donnie Brasco got stung by a bee.”
Stewart acknowledged that the sleazy picture of Cafaro he used was taken in 2002, so he showed viewers a new picture where he looked even more like a character from The Sopranos.
“Are you f---ing kidding me?” Stewart said.
Trump has not publicly criticized Cafaro or Greenwater Services for the pool’s massive algae bloom. Instead, he has blamed vandals for the pool’s current state.
Trump claimed in a Truth Social post Monday that the pool had been “given a 300 foot long gash” and that “chemicals have been illegally placed in the water.” He has not provided any evidence for either claim.
In the same post, Trump threatened a 10-year prison sentence for anyone caught attempting to destroy the pool.
The post was met with widespread ridicule online, as well as mockery from The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg.
“Well, if he says he’s going to jail for 10 years, I’m going to let him go,” Goldberg said, adding, “It seems to me that, had he not messed with the pool, it would still be a reflecting pool instead of a liquid jungle.”
