Trump's Reflecting Pool Renovation Cost Swells to $13.1 Million as Lawsuit Challenges July 4 Push
Updated
Updated · PBS NewsHour · May 30
Trump's Reflecting Pool Renovation Cost Swells to $13.1 Million as Lawsuit Challenges July 4 Push
1 articles · Updated · PBS NewsHour · May 30
$13.1 million is the latest reported cost for Trump's fast-tracked National Mall Reflecting Pool overhaul, far above his initial $1.8 million claim and tied to a July 4 deadline.
PolitiFact found Trump also overstated the pool's dimensions and timeline: it is 2,028 feet long and 167 feet wide, and work remained unfinished more than three weeks after he said it would take two.
The project expanded beyond repainting the basin to sandblasting and repairing the surrounding walkway, with Trump saying it was about 70% complete on May 27 and could still reopen in coming weeks.
A landscape architects group is suing to stop the plan to paint the pool bottom "American Flag Blue," arguing it would permanently damage one of Washington's most iconic designed landscapes.
Contract scrutiny has widened because the Interior Department used a no-bid urgent exemption, while Trump has given conflicting accounts about whether he knew Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the Virginia company awarded the work.
How did a two-week, $1.8M pool fix become a $13.1M+ no-bid federal project?
What legal standards govern major aesthetic changes to America's most iconic national monuments?