Looking into the Reflecting Pool: We examined Trump’s vandalism claims

After complaining about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool's appearance, President Donald Trump launched a renovation project to paint the pool's  bottom "American flag blue." But the pool once again is plagued by algae, and its coating is peeling — something Trump blames on vandalism.

Trump has said vandals slashed the pool with a knife, leaving a cut he has variously described as 150 feet, 250 feet, 300 feet and 350 feet long. 

"The 350 foot gash, made by a very sharp knife or razors, is actually numerous slashes over a very long 350 foot length," he said in a June 23 Truth Social post, a day after telling reporters proof of the vandalism would be provided in court.   

Asked for evidence of vandalism and the gash, the Trump administration pointed PolitiFact and other journalists to several things: the Interior Department; White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt’s interview on Fox News, in which she blamed vandals; and video surveillance footage of people bending over the pool’s edge. A June 25 White House press release included a link to a video a TMZ DC co-managing editor posted on X which appears to show a white line throughout a pool.

We dissected Trump’s statements about vandalism by examining publicly available information about the renovations, arrests, algae blooms and what could cause the pool’s coating to peel. 

Reflecting Pool renovations 

Foundational issues have afflicted the pool since its creation in the 1920s. 

Pipes that are intended to facilitate filtration — to prevent algae and murky water — and maintain the reflective water level are leaking, but that problem was not addressed in Trump’s recent renovations, The New York Times reported. 

Two construction firms with ties to Trump were granted no-bid contracts for the renovations, which started in April. Atlantic Industrial Coatings, which previously worked on the Trump National Golf Club, was awarded a $14.7 million contract to add a blue sealant to the pool floor and repair the expansion joint seals. Green Water Services, owned by John J. Cafaro, who donated $250,000 to the Trump Victory committee in 2020, received a $1.7 million contract to upgrade the water purification system. 

The pool reopened June 6, but less than a week later, the water turned green from algae, obscuring the new blue bottom. Algae excels in sun-exposed shallow, stagnant water, and overactive algae is not a new problem at the monument. 

It’s "unrealistic to eliminate all algae growth" in the Reflecting Pool, Jason Davison, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Catholic University, told PBS.

National Park Service workers have put hydrogen peroxide into the water and are using equipment to try to eliminate the algae.

A piece of the blue coating floats among algae at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Sunday, June 21, 2026, on the National Mall in Washington. (AP)

What could cause the coating to peel

Signs of problems with the new coating emerged before Trump’s recent vandalism allegations. In May, Interior Department staff noticed defects in the blue coating including bubbling and small holes, The New York Times reported. 

The pool has a polyurea coating, which is a rubber-like material.

Steve Goodale, an aquatic systems consultant known online as "Swimming Pool Steve," told PolitiFact that although creating a gash in polyurea coating is not impossible, he has a hard time imagining a tool that could cause more than superficial damage.

If the lining was cut with a knife, water could infiltrate the space between the sealant and concrete, resulting in peeling. 

However, at the pool, a PolitiFact reporter saw no visible gash. Officers there could not point the reporter to the alleged gash, and it’s not visible from National Park Service Monument video feeds, which provide a view of the pool from the top of the Washington Monument. 

Trump said vandals might have put fertilizer into the water, causing the lining to peel.

Goodale said that it was highly unlikely that fertilizer would affect the lining’s integrity. Polyurea is naturally resistant to chemicals, and because the pool is so large, any nonindustrial amount of substance added would likely have little to no effect.

Goodale told PolitiFact one of the most common failures in polyurea coatings is inadequate surface preparation — not drying or controlling the moisture on the concrete before applying the lining. If the concrete is not fully dry then vapor pressure may build up between the sealant and the concrete, resulting in peeling. 

Have there been arrests? 

In its June 25 press release, the White House said seven people were cited, seven arrested, and that there were 18 police reports for vandalism. PolitiFact asked the White House and the Interior Department for arrest records but received none.

Davey Hearn, a three time Olympian canoeist, told The Washington Post he was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for destruction of federal property. Hearn told the Post he saw a detaching lining and reached in to feel it. He denied peeling or destroying anything and described being quickly arrested after taking his hand out of the pool, then detained for five hours. 

Gaby Scott, Hearn’s legal representative, told PolitiFact, "There was no crime." She said people have interacted with the Reflecting Pool for decades and denouncing ordinary behavior as criminal "diverts attention from the real questions of how this project was managed."  

Trump has said destroying or attempting to destroy the pool is punishable by 10 years in prison. The maximum sentence for federal property destruction is up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines, if $1,000 or more if damage occurs. 

Sara Bronin, a George Washington University law professor specializing in property and historical preservation law, told PolitiFact, "It seems very unlikely that any court would impose the maximum sentence – much less any sentence at all – for the alleged violations." Bronin said that’s usually imposed only when the defendant committed other, larger crimes or greatly damaged property. 

City Police Department officers, deputized to assist with local law enforcement for events around the 250th anniversary of the U.S., patrol near the area where sections of blue coating have peeled up in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Saturday, June 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP)

Trump overstates pool repair costs under Obama

Trump initially said pool renovation costs would be about $2 million, though that price tag has gone up to more than $16 million. He also has repeatedly compared his administration’s work on the pool with work he said the Obama and Biden administrations completed. 

On Truth Social on June 22, Trump wrote, "Obama and Biden spent over 100 Million Dollars on the Reflecting Pool, and it never worked." 

The Obama administration replaced the basin and water circulation system — which drew water from the Tidal Basin — for $35 million. The Biden administration never conducted any major repairs. 

Major fixes will require redraining the 6.5 million gallon pool, and will happen after celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.