President Donald Trump has highlighted progress being made in his multimillion-dollar revamp of the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
While en route to Florida Friday afternoon, the president posted photos showing workers coating the bottom of the 2,000-foot-long pool in a layer of bright blue paint.
“Starting the final phase of Renovation that was supposed to cost 301 Million Dollars, and take three years, and was instead done, with the help of Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and his entire Department, and a much better final result – 2 Million Dollars in one week,” the 79-year-old billionaire wrote on Truth Social.
“I do many such things for Government and, as President, it is my Honor to do so,” he added. “This is just one of them.”
He also posted a rendering of the entire pool, refilled with water, alongside the caption: “Coming Soon.”
Earlier in the day, Burgum shared a close-up of the work, showing hard-hatted crews inside the drained pool, which is fenced off from visitors. While crouched down the workers inspected a fresh coat of paint.
“Thank you @POTUS for investing in our capital,” he wrote on X. “The Reflecting Pool is about to look better than ever!”
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment about the cost of the makeover.
On Thursday, Trump spoke to reporters at length about his renovations while seated in the Oval Office.
He complained that the decorative body of water — which is roughly the length of six American football fields — “never looked great” because the stone bottom was “not really meant to be a stone that’s underwater for that much of a period of time.”
Trump brought up the project unprompted and spoke about it for several minutes at a White House event on efforts to reduce drug prices. He said he initially wanted a turquoise-colored surface “like in the Bahamas” but was sold when a contractor suggested “American flag blue.”
The reflecting pool, the centerpiece of the National Mall, was completed in the early 1920s. It is drained multiple times every year to scrub away algae and repair damage.
Trump told reporters that the Biden administration had solicited bids to revamp the pool that would have cost $301 million and take more than three years to complete.
So, the president told reporters, he decided to employ a contractor — who he referred to as his “pool guy” — who used to build pools at his Trump hotels and residential towers. He said he’d been told the renovation would take weeks — not years — and would “cost about a million and a half dollars.”
It’s just one of many changes the president has made and hopes to make to the nation’s capital.
Since returning to office, he has paved over the Rose Garden, installed towering flag poles on the White House lawn and torn down the East Wing to build a colossal ballroom.
He also plans to erect a massive triumphal arch on the banks of the Potomac River. On Friday, he also boasted of fixing the fountains in Lafayette Park, located next to the White House.
