President Donald Trump compared the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to major U.S. skyscrapers in yet another Truth Social post bragging about his renovations to the Washington, D.C., landmark.
Trump shared a graphic comparing the reflecting pool’s 2,030-foot length to the height of iconic skyscrapers, including New York City’s Empire State Building (1,454 feet) and One World Trade Center (1,776 feet), along with Chicago’s Willis Tower (1,451 feet).
“The Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, approximately 2,030 feet, versus the tallest buildings in the U.S.A,” the president wrote on Truth Social Saturday.
As part of Trump’s renovations, the reflecting pool’s basin will be coated in “American flag blue.” The president said the project will use “industrial strength materials,” giving the reflecting pool “a longer life, and a better look.”
The “goal” is to complete the project before July 4, America’s 250th anniversary, Trump added.
Virginia-based company Atlantic Industrial Coatings was awarded a no-bid contract for the project, The New York Times first reported last week. Trump has since claimed he’s never used the company, and that the Interior Department handled the contract.
“I didn’t give out the contract, ‘Interior’ did, to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before,” he wrote on Truth Social Tuesday.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has also defended the contract but told lawmakers he wasn’t familiar with the company that was awarded the lucrative deal. “I’m positive we followed all the required bidding rules,” he told the House Committee on Natural Resources this week.
The pool, which sits between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, has deteriorated in recent decades and leaks an estimated 16 million gallons every year. It underwent a $34 million renovation during former President Barack Obama’s administration but has continued to experience filtration problems and algae blooms.
In another post on Saturday, the president said he made the project a “much larger job than originally contemplated for purposes of Beauty, and a much longer life.”
“Also, went to a higher quality sealer with more reflectivity,” he wrote. “Check it out before the Opening — It’s a very exciting project!”
Federal records indicate Trump’s renovations are expected to cost more than $13 million.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a lawsuit Monday against the Interior Department and National Park Service, alleging that the “current application of blue paint to the basin of Reflecting Pool on the National Mall is being done in violation of federal law.”
“The Reflecting Pool’s profound reflective quality — achieved through deliberate design choices, including the dark color of its basin creates the sweeping mirror image of the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument that millions of visitors experience every year,” according to the complaint.
“The dark grey, achromatic basin was not incidental to the design,” plaintiffs allege. “It was the design.”
When asked about the lawsuit earlier this week, an Interior Department spokesperson told The Independent: “The choice of American Flag Blue will enhance the visitor experience by making the pool reflect the grand Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.”
The spokesperson said the agency is also investing in a “state-of-the-art ozone nanobubbler filtration system and will now have a dedicated crew who will maintain the grounds from wildlife.”
