For a century, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has captured Washington\u2019s history, a vast mirror for moments great and small.<\/p>\n
Then, this spring, President Trump said he decided to paint it blue, and steered a government contract to somebody he said had worked on his swimming pools.<\/p>\n
In the process, he made the pool into a reflection of Washington\u2019s present.<\/p>\n
To give out that $6.9 million no-bid contract, Mr. Trump\u2019s administration invoked an exemption meant for urgent situations, The New York Times found. The exemption was supposed to be used only to prevent \u201cserious injury, financial or other, to the government.\u201d Administration officials made no public claim that such injury was likely; rather, officials said, Mr. Trump wanted it changed for the country\u2019s birthday party on July 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project is now being completed at \u2018Trump speed\u2019 to ensure the iconic landmark is totally restored ahead of the 250th celebrations,\u201d said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, in a statement to The Times.<\/p>\n
The pool is the latest in a string of cases where Mr. Trump\u2019s government invoked special powers to shut down required competition, and then handed contracts directly to the president\u2019s preferred vendors.<\/p>\n
The renovation plans exemplify how Mr. Trump views much of the nation\u2019s capital as his imperial realm \u2014 to decorate, or even destroy, as he sees fit. In doing so, he and his administration have run roughshod over a decades-old review process for changes in Washington\u2019s core, as well as rules intended to ensure government money is spent wisely and without favoritism.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump paved over the Rose Garden\u2019s lawn without seeking approvals. He has installed a 13-foot statue of Christopher Columbus on White House grounds without submitting a plan to any panel. And, most prominently, he tore down the historic East Wing of the White House without consulting any oversight board.<\/p>\n
Tim Whitehouse, the executive director of the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the renovations in the capital have \u201cbecome a secretive project where the friends and business associates of the president are being rewarded with no public scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Reflecting Pool holds particular significance. Built in 1922, it was designed to be a dignified tie between monuments to two of the country\u2019s greatest presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Over time, it became the recognizable backdrop for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech in 1963, major protests against the Vietnam War, and other gatherings that galvanized the left and right.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump has boasted about the Reflecting Pool renovations at least five times in recent weeks, casting the contract as an example of his ability to cut through government red tape and improve upon existing icons.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to end up with a beautiful, beautiful Reflecting Pool, the way it\u2019s supposed to be,\u201d Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office on April 23. \u201cMuch better than it ever was, actually,\u201d<\/p>\n
Last weekend, he celebrated the plan with a social-media post<\/a> that showed a fake image of himself floating shirtless in a bright blue version of the pool.<\/p>\n But government documents obtained by The Times say the contract has already cost far more than Mr. Trump said it would, and that repairs would be needed again far sooner.<\/p>\n They also show that Mr. Trump\u2019s plan does not address one of the pool\u2019s main problems: faulty plumbing in its filtration system. As a result, experts said it was unclear if Mr. Trump\u2019s pool would remain blue \u2014 or if it would soon be obscured by a recurring layer of green algae.<\/p>\n \u201cPainting is not going to solve that problem,\u201d said Tim Auerhahn, the chairman of the Aquatic Council, a consulting firm for the pool and hot-tub industry.<\/p>\n Mr. Auerhahn said he was also concerned by Mr. Trump\u2019s decision to drive his motorcade across the pool\u2019s surface on Thursday night to hold a press event highlighting the renovations. That might have put huge amounts of weight on the notoriously leaky \u2014 and newly repaired \u2014 joints between its concrete slabs.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it were my project, I\u2019d require an immediate inspection,\u201d Mr. Auerhahn said.<\/p>\n Green and Matted<\/p>\n The pool repair contract was given on April 3 to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, based in New Canton, Va. Contracting records show the firm had never previously held a federal contract.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump said he consulted with three companies that had worked on his swimming pools, but chose one that had performed work at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va.<\/p>\n Updated\u00a0<\/p>\n May 8, 2026, 1:14 p.m. ET<\/p>\n \u201cI have a guy who\u2019s unbelievable at doing swimming pools,\u201d Mr. Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office on April 23<\/a>. \u201cHe looked at it. He called me up. He said, \u2018Sir, we can do something on it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The Times could not independently confirm that the company had worked for Mr. Trump\u2019s golf club. One of the company\u2019s owners, Curtis E. Wood, who goes by Eddie, declined to comment on the contract. \u201cI\u2019m not at liberty to discuss that,\u201d he said in a brief phone interview.<\/p>\n Atlantic Industrial Coatings does not appear to advertise an expertise in painting swimming pools.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s website<\/a> shows it specializes in waterproofing highway culverts, pipes, roofs and chemical and water storage tanks. The site does not mention swimming pools, at Trump golf clubs or anywhere else.<\/p>\n The contractor is tackling a decades-long headache. The Reflecting Pool is not a swimming pool, and the unusual elements that make it beautiful also create vexing problems.<\/p>\n The pool extends more 2,000 feet, requiring dozens of joints that have proved prone to leakage.<\/p>\n Algae is another concern. The pool\u2019s shallow depth enables a mirror effect, but also turns the pool into a warmed-over petri dish under Washington\u2019s withering summer sun. From above, the pool often looks as green as the grassy lawns around it.<\/p>\n Between 2010 and 2012, the Obama administration spent more than $35 million trying to solve those problems. It failed. The pool was green and matted within a month<\/a>. It still leaks 16 million gallons of water a year, which the National Park Service must pay to replace.<\/p>\n Pet Projects<\/p>\n In 2019, Park Service officials in the first Trump administration tried again to fix the problems.<\/p>\n They came up with a three-part plan: Seal the joints. Add a better filter. And replace two miles of broken or faulty pipes that feed water into that filter.<\/p>\n Charles F. Sams III, who inherited the plan as head of the National Park Service under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., said the pipe replacement was especially vital. Yet the repairs never happened. Mr. Sams said the bids from vendors had been unexpectedly high for the complete overhaul, over $100 million.<\/p>\n The Park Service turned to a stopgap measure, draining and cleaning the pool every year.<\/p>\n But with the 250th birthday celebration looming, Mr. Trump has been pushing through contracts for pet projects, including the pool.<\/p>\n By law, federal agencies are generally supposed to let vendors compete for contracts, obtaining multiple bids to find the one that could do the best work for the least cost. There are exceptions, including urgent situations where time is so short and the stakes so high that any delay would produce serious injury to the government.<\/p>\n Experts said that exception is not meant for cases where the government is merely behind schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government cannot create its own urgency,\u201d said Jessica Tillipman, a professor who studies contracting law at George Washington University.<\/p>\n Before Mr. Trump\u2019s second term, the Park Service had rarely invoked that kind of exemption. A Times analysis previously found<\/a> that less than 1 percent of the agency\u2019s contract spending over the last decade had relied on claims of urgency.<\/p>\n Last month, The Times reported that the Park Service used a similar urgency exemption to give a secret, no-bid contract<\/a> now worth $17.4 million to the same firm that Mr. Trump chose to build his White House ballroom. The contract was for a seemingly mundane job: fixing the ornamental fountains in Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.<\/p>\n This spring, it said the Reflecting Pool repairs were also too urgent to take time gathering other bids.<\/p>\n Atlantic Industrial Coatings was hired to perform only one of the three tasks that the Park Service said was needed. The company is supposed to reseal the pool\u2019s joints, and waterproof the slabs.<\/p>\n