Interior Secretary Doug Burgum lashed out at claims that the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial was already leaking as the Trump administration scrambled to finish the $13.1 million renovations in time for the Fourth of July.
The massive pool spanning more than 2,000 feet has had leaks for decades. President Donald Trump has vowed to fix it while bragging about other pools he’s built.
But according to documents reviewed by the New York Times, the contractor’s effort to seal the gaps failed in two trials earlier this month, leaving the Park Service and the company rushing to come up with a fix.
The Interior Department declined to say if a solution had been found before the Times report dropped, but afterward, Burgum fired back, accusing it of “TDS” or “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and claimed it “ignored the facts” in a lengthy 9-post rant on X.
“The final materials for the 2.5 miles worth of expansion joints at the Reflecting Pool passed testing flawlessly last week and this week,” he wrote. “Installation is currently underway for one full-scale expansion joint, with the installation of the remaining four expansion joints scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday.
“The expansion joints installed under Obama, who wasted millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars, have catastrophically failed, leaking 16 MILLION GALLONS of water per YEAR and costing hard-working taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he continued.
Burgum even included an image of a dumpster filled with “decaying and failing expansion joints” while touting the Trump administration’s “industrial-grade, leak-proof materials.”
The New York Times was quick to point out that Burgum’s tirade, in fact, confirmed its reporting that the Park Service and the contractor struggled with a leaking problem.
The issue involved sealing the gaps between the concrete slabs on the pool floor, according to the report. The gaps have been hard to seal because they do not remain the same size and instead expand in heat and contract in cold, so the material used between them needs to be stretchable.
The original plan was to use solid foam to fill the gaps and then apply sealant on top, but after the failed test, the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, had to go back and start again.
The report specifically said it was not clear whether a solution had been found.
The $13.1 million contract, nearly double what Trump had initially stated the project would cost, indicated the renovations to the Reflecting Pool would be completed by March 22. However, the president this week argued that it would instead be completed before the 4th of July.
Workers could be seen pouring blue sealant at the bottom of the Reflecting Pool this week after the efforts had to be temporarily paused due to days of bad weather.
Burgum concluded his thread attacking the coverage with a declaration that the expansion joints will be “perfectly sealed to prevent leaking, in marked contrast to the failed, exorbitantly priced Obama-era expansion joints” while sucking up to his boss Trump as the “Builder in Chief.”
