WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s makeover of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of America’s 250th anniversary celebrations is not going according to plan.
First, the project overshot Trump’s initial cost estimate of under $2 million — and has already topped $14.6 million, according to a federal spending database.
Then, the new Trump-branded “American flag blue” color was short-lived as algae turned the pool green, causing the administration to send crews to dump hydrogen peroxide into the expansive pool to deal with the problem.
In recent days, NBC News spotted some blue paint chipping off the surface, with strips of it peeling away and floating atop the pool for visitors and passers-by to see as the busy summer tourist season in the nation’s capital gets underway.
On the west side of the pool Thursday, a small section of the blue painted surface appeared to be lifting away, exposing the darker unpainted layer underneath. A strip of detached paint could be seen floating beneath the water’s surface.
Algae still remain visible along the edges of the pool despite ongoing cleaning efforts. The developing deterioration drew the attention of onlookers who stopped to take a closer look.
On Saturday, Trump claimed on Truth Social that U.S. Park Police had arrested multiple individuals for “vandalizing” the pool, calling them “very serious crimes” that could warrant “years in jail.” The U.S. Park Police did not immediately return a request for information on any arrests.
Trump added that “work will begin immediately” on repairs.
The Trump administration is hardly the first to struggle to clean up the Reflecting Pool. But the algae-infused green color has drawn significant attention in recent days after the president slammed the pool earlier this year as “filthy” and “dirty,” promising to make it “beautiful” and blue at minimal expense.
The Interior Department’s media office didn’t return an email seeking comment Friday.
Two days earlier, on Wednesday, the department’s X account posted that the “advanced nanobubbler technology very effectively killed the algae,” while taking a jab at the Obama administration’s attempts to clean the pool up.
“The Reflecting Pool water is crystal clear, and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the Reflecting Pool—just like the destroyed Iranian Navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” the Interior Department wrote.
Last week, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted a time warp of the blue paint being added to the pool’s surface.
