President Donald Trump boasted last month that he was bringing on “a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools” for a renovation project at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
But the Cabinet secretary leading the federal agency overseeing the work admitted Wednesday that the president’s “pool guy” actually has nothing to do with the project and added that he isn’t familiar with the company awarded its lucrative no-bid contract.
Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum denied that the president hired his “guy” for the job but repeatedly rebuffed questions about the project’s contractor in his testimony to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
That “guy” is “not a part of this contract” and has nothing to do with the project, Burgum said. A person, who previously worked for the president, is “just a citizen who cared about it” and offered “free advice,” the secretary explained.
Instead, the National Park Service awarded $13.1 million to Atlantic Industrial Coatings LLC for the project, federal spending records show, after the president initially said the job could be done for $1.5 million. The administration skirted a competitive bidding process to quickly hire the firm by citing a “serious injury, financial or other, to the government” without it.
“I’m positive we followed all the required bidding rules,” Burgum said Wednesday. “You’re emphasizing ‘no bid’ as if something nefarious happened.”
Burgum said he wasn’t “familiar” with the winning company, which has never had a federal contract until the government awarded it nearly $7 million last month and then another $6.2 million last week.
The administration bypassed a typical competitive bid process by arguing that the need for renovations was so urgent that any delays would cause “serious injury” to the government, though it remains unclear what that “injury” entails.
“I think we do have a sense of urgency,” Burgum said. “We got handed a record amount of deferred maintenance. We had 19 fountains across the city that didn’t work.”
“That’s the ‘serious injury’ to the government?” Democratic Representative Joe Neguse fired back.
“I’m not a — I suppose a lawyer could decide that, but all of us could agree we want our nation’s capital looking great for the 250th [anniversary],” Burgum said. “This is a common-sense decision.”
In a 400-word statement on Truth Social Tuesday morning, Trump denied knowing anything about Atlantic Industrial Coatings LLC.
“I didn’t give out the contract, ‘Interior’ did, to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before,” he wrote.
“Did you give this $13 million, no-bid contract to a company that has never done business with the government before?” Neguse asked Burgum Wednesday.
“The gentleman you’re talking about that has done construction work regarding pools and fountains for President Trump is not part of this contract,” Burgum replied.
“He’s just a citizen who cared about it and offered some free advice,” he said. “There’s nothing ‘there’ there in terms of any dollars flowing to anyone who worked for President Trump.”
Records show the company was awarded more than $6.8 million on April 3 to “PAINT LINCOLN MEMORIAL POOL.” Another payment of $6.2 million was awarded May 8 under a “SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT FOR WORK WITHIN SCOPE,” records show.
The Independent has requested comment from Atlantic Industrial Coatings LLC.
Burgum repeatedly came under fire during Wednesday’s hearing for what Democratic lawmakers called Trump’s “vanity projects” across Washington, D.C. — including plans for a 250-foot Triumphal Arch. Rep. Jared Huffman repeatedly asked him who the arch is even for.
“The American people, just like everything else in this city,” Burgum replied.
“And we’re gonna build one just a little taller than the one in Pyongyang, because someone in the White House insists ours be the biggest,” Huffman fired back. “Trump said this arch is for him. His answer was ‘me.’ We can enter that into the record if you like.”
