President Donald Trump is spinning a new tale about the future of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
The tourist site got a new coat of “American Flag blue” paint and a new filtration system in the spring.
It reopened to visitors in the second week of June but abruptly closed July 5 because of algae overgrowth and peeling paint.
The president blamed the latter disaster on “vandals” who allegedly cut a 350-foot slash into the pool.
The memorial has been a nightmare for the president’s news cycle ever since.
He faced questions from reporters about the memorial on Oct. 6 at the White House.
D.C. reporter Emily Miller asked Trump directly. “Are you worried about future vandalism?” she asked.
“Well, yeah, we had vandalism there, and we have it about as vandal-proof as you can get, but only sick people do that. And we have to have pictures, but sick people do that,” said Trump.
Furthermore, he revealed, “I think they’re going to fill it up this week. The Reflecting Pool is totally complete, and we changed the old pipes. We wanted it open for July 4th, and now we went and got rid of all the pipes, which we were gonna do later during the winter, but we did it, and I think it’s almost complete from what I understand.”
Social media users weighed in on the latest update with disbelief.
At first, reactions were along the lines of this one: “It’s totally complete, it’s almost complete.??? This idiot loves to contradict himself.”
They then nose-dived into tweets such as “Didn’t he have his motorcade drive over the refinished pool?”
Another read, “This has already been proven to be FAKE NEWS. The President should be held accountable for all of his lies.”
A fourth critic snapped, “Someone remind dementia Don his contractor already admitted they botched the job.”
Trump pushed that very narrative in August.
During an Oval Office meeting, he admitted he wasn’t “100% thrilled with the contractor.” He then confessed they “rushed” to meet Trump’s July 4 deadline.
Even if the pool reopens by the end of the week, Trump still won’t be able to put the matter behind him.
His demand that the Department of Justice pursue a case against Olympic swimmer David Carter Hearn remains a lingering issue. Hearn faced arrest and detention after peeling apart the blue coat.
The athlete was riding his bike past the attraction in June when he touched a piece of the floating paint.
Prosecutors formally dismissed the case against him with prejudice this month, preventing them from bringing it again. The decision came weeks after U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro moved to drop the charges against him and two others.
Escalating his legal battle against federal prosecutors, Hearn called on government watchdogs at the Justice and Interior departments on Oct. 6 to investigate his arrest. His legal team alleges that officials suppressed evidence that could have cleared him of the vandalism charges while pursuing what they describe as a politically motivated indictment.
Meanwhile, the damage at the Reflecting Pool appears to have had a very different culprit: a “botched installation.”
Trump awarded a $13.1 million no-bid contract to Atlantic Industrial Coatings and a separate $1.7 million contract to Green Water Solutions for the filtration system.
Trump also railed against the “vandals” allegedly responsible for the “86 47” dead-grass prank on the National Mall in June.
“They destroyed the brand-new, beautiful grass at the reflecting pool…the grass was destroyed with the letters, and that’s been just about completed, too,” said Trump. “We put all new grass in again.”
So far, investigators have found no evidence of vandals in action, and prosecutors have not charged anyone.
This afternoon at the Reflecting Pool. Trump claimed that it’s just about done, six months and $18+ million later https://t.co/C2ToPXm6t5
— Joe Flood (@joeflood) October 6, 2026
