After a $14 million renovation project, Donald Trump announced on Saturday that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool will likely need to be drained for repairs.
According to The New York Times, the pool’s condition became a point of concern when clouds of blooming algae began obscuring the newly painted floor, transforming it from Trump’s goal of “American flag blue” to bright green. After the growth, per reports, the paint then began to peel away from the basin.
On Wednesday, the Interior Department claimed on X that agency workers had successfully killed the algae using “advanced nanobubbler technology”, but observers on the ground noted that the water remained stained with clumps of green matter. Large sections of the blue coating have also gone missing, with one gap measuring roughly the size of a park bench, revealing the original concrete basin underneath.
Trump has attributed these problems to vandalism, though he has reportedly not provided evidence to support this claim. He alleged that “multiple individuals” have been arrested by U.S. Park Police for what he termed “vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Pool.” One person caught up in this allegation is David Carter Hearn, a 67-year-old cyclist and three-time Olympian as a canoeist.
Hearn vehemently denied the accusations made against him
According to The Guardian, Trump has put up multiple posts regarding this vandalism. He stated that these actions represent “very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments” and could lead to “years in jail.”
In another post, he stated that “Many additional people have been arrested” and said the pool worked perfectly, but that vandals had “poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool” to mirror the damage caused by chemicals used elsewhere on the National Mall. He also claimed that vandals used “some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete.”
The Guardian noted that in one of his posts, he announced that the administration had “cleaned, renovated, and beautified over 45 Monuments and Memorials, 28 Statues, and 22 Fountains in Washington, D.C.” He went on to accuse an ABC reporter, Jonathan Karl, of “trying to rip the rubber off of the surface.” He also referenced the “8647” marked onto the grass of the National Mall.
Hearn was arrested by the US Park Police on Friday, after stopping at the site during a 50-mile bike ride. He reported that he was detained for more than four hours at a facility south of the National Mall without being allowed a phone call. He explained to the Washington Post that he noticed a piece of the blue liner that was already detached and reached into the water to touch it. “I didn’t vandalize anything,” Mr. Hearn stated in the interview.
“I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.” He compared his actions to those of Karl, who was filmed lifting a piece of detached paint earlier in the week, noting, “I didn’t remove anything. I was bending and feeling this two-millimeter-thick, rubbery flap.” NYT noted Hearn’s stated interest in the material stemmed from his pre-retirement job of running a company selling special material for building canoes.
“I’m getting a lot of support from my community,” he stated in his interview. NYT also mentioned that he has been offered pro bono legal representation. The U.S. Park Police have accused him of destroying government property, a charge that carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Mr. Hearn maintains his innocence, stating, “I was just a curious, concerned citizen. I guess I was there at the wrong place, wrong time.”
Per The Guardian, Trump’s renovation project received criticism from engineers and experts who suggested that the work did not address the long-term issues that have troubled the pool for decades. Further scrutiny has focused on the contracting process, as a no-bid contract was awarded to a construction company tied to a longtime supporter of the president.
As the Interior Department has been working to clean the pool, they first referred to it as “the Obama pool.” Then, per The Guardian, they drew a parallel to Iran: “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.”
In the meantime, the outlet noted Trump maintains that the algae issue is largely under control, suggesting that the problem is “75% gone” and will soon be “completely remedied.”
Published: Jun 22, 2026 04:29 am