Crews are draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool again, reopening a project that had already been marked finished last month before new problems surfaced. The work is part of President Donald Trump’s effort to revamp the waterway, and it comes after the pool was closed for Independence Day and then showed signs of algae and peeling coating.
The latest draining matters because Trump had wanted the pool ready by July 4 for the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations, only for the project to slip into another repair cycle. In May, he posted that the goal was to have it done “at this higher level” before the holiday, and Doug Burgum said this week that the new draining was already planned.
Burgum said the pool could still hold debris from the extensive fireworks display over the National Mall and that crews would drain it, clean up the fireworks material, repair what he called vandalism and fill it back up again. The administration has also said the bottom was painted American flag blue as part of Trump’s redesign, which has become one of the most visible changes in the area. That same project is now being reopened because the finish did not hold.
Trump blamed vandals for the damage, but critics have said the peeling came from shoddy repair work, and court documents add another layer to that fight. The National Park Service reported a June 9 incident to the U.S. Park Police in which a sharp knife or razor cut the pool’s new liner. On Thursday, David Hearn pleaded not guilty in D.C. Superior Court to deliberately damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn said he reached inside the pool to examine the peeled sealant and let go of a chunk when he was told to by a park worker.
At least three other people have been charged in D.C. Superior Court with misdemeanors for allegedly removing pieces of paint from the pool, and all three pleaded not guilty during their initial court appearances Wednesday. Burgum has also said the Trump administration will not seek bids for the new round of repairs and will use the same company again, even as the original project has already been completed once and then reopened for more work.
The Reflecting Pool renovation sits inside a wider set of Trump projects across D.C., including the demolition of the White House’s East Wing for a ballroom and plans for an arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. For now, the practical answer is simple: the waterway is going down again, and the next phase is another repair cycle rather than a finished job.
