Trump Admin Defends Overpaying Reflecting Pool Contractor, Citing Rushed Timeline and Attacking Obama in the Process

Joseph KonigFri, May 29, 2026 at 6:05 PM UTC

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Workers spread a blue sealant onto the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall on May 28. resident Barack Obama speaks during a get-out-the-vote rally on Oct. 22, 2024, in Madison, Wisc.
Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty; Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty -

The Trump administration awarded a $13.1 million contract to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, far exceeding initial estimates

The Interior Department blamed past administrations for the pool’s condition and said the high price tag was the result of expediting the project's timeline so that it can be completed before America's 250th birthday on July 4

A recent New York Times report detailed that the contractor secured an unusually high profit margin through a non-competitive bid

As President Donald Trump continues to spend considerable time focusing on his reimagining of Washington’s monuments and fountains, his Interior Department was forced to defend the contract it awarded to the company renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after the cost was revealed to be more than seven times greater than Trump’s initial estimate.

In a lengthy statement to PEOPLE, a spokesperson for the Interior Department — led by former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — justified the $13.1 million contract based on the company’s expertise and the expedited timeline “to complete the project in time for major celebrations ahead of” the summer’s celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the United States.

The Interior Department also blamed former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, specifically zeroing in on the latter’s apparent failure to keep the Reflecting Pool aesthetically pleasing.

“Thanks to Obama and Biden, this project was left as an utter disaster after spending millions upon millions in repairs only to have the Reflecting Pool disgusting and broken within days,” the spokesperson argued in the statement. “The contract price reflects the effort necessary to expedite the timeline of completing the leak prevention coating project—more people, more materials, more equipment and longer hours ahead of our 250th.”

“Where Obama failed, President Trump is going to fix this for good and at a much lower cost,” the Interior Department spokesperson added.

The statement echoed Trump’s false insistence at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, May 27, that Biden and Obama “spent hundreds of millions of dollars” trying to prevent Reflecting Pool leaks.

Work continues on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington on May 29
Credit: Anne Lebreton / AFP via Getty

The Biden administration did not conduct any renovations of the Reflecting Pool, situated between the Lincoln and Washington memorials and the site of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech during the 1963 March on Washington.

The Obama administration did spend $34 million from the $787 billion 2009 economic stimulus package — or less than four one-thousandths of 1% of the total package — to reconstruct the Reflecting Pool in a two-year project that wrapped up in August 2012.

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The project included a completely new, 2,000-plus-foot-long reflecting pool, new walking paths where before there had been none, and permanent security features to replace temporary concrete barriers, according to a 2012 report from the AP.

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An algae bloom shortly after the Reflecting Pool reopened in 2012 forced the National Park Service to scramble, drain the pool, and recalibrate the filtration system. Each spring since then, the National Park Service scrubs out a year’s worth of goose poop and other debris to keep the pool clean and the algae away.

Workers spray blue paint onto the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall with the Lincoln Memorial in the background on May 28.
Credit: Kevin Carter/Getty

Trump claimed the pool continued to look “disgusting” with “dirty, filthy water that leaked out” until he took a crack at it.

“Over the years, I built hundreds of pools. I build them every time I built a building,” the longtime real estate mogul said during his Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “I have a swimming pool right up the road. I built it 22 years ago. It's perfect. I said, ‘Does it ever leak?’ No, it's perfect.”

Trump hired a Virginia-based contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, to give the Reflecting Pool a new lining — “American Flag blue,” Trump says. But after initially estimating that the project would cost $1.5 million to $2 million, federal contracting records show Atlantic Industrial Coatings scored a $13.1 million contract from the Interior Department.

An Ohio-based contractor called Green Water Solutions LLC received another $1.7 million to work on the project.

The New York Times reported this week that the $13.1 million contract will result in a higher-than-typical profit margin for Atlantic Industrial Coatings: roughly 20% compared to the usual margins of 6-12% for similar federal contracts.

The Trump administration did not solicit bids from other contractors.

Workers attach black fabric to the fence around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as part of a painting project on the National Mall on May 28.
Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty

“There were many ideas and proposals discussed on how to permanently fix the decades long issues plaguing the Reflecting Pool under this administration,” the Interior Department's statement to PEOPLE read. “The company selected was the only company that had the expertise, staff, and materials necessary to complete the project in time for major celebrations ahead of our 250th.”

The Interior Department also claimed that “the contract was handled by career civil servants.” PEOPLE could not confirm if that was the case. Burgum purged the department of roughly 13,000 staffers last year and announced efforts to reduce its workforce by even more in April.

“The Reflecting Pool is being restored to its iconic greatness thanks to President Donald J. Trump,” the Interior Department said.

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