{"id":4500,"date":"2026-06-22T00:56:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T00:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/06\/22\/trump-says-repair-work-to-begin-immediately-on-beleaguered-reflecting-pool\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T00:56:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T00:56:41","slug":"trump-says-repair-work-to-begin-immediately-on-beleaguered-reflecting-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=4500","title":{"rendered":"Trump says repair work to begin \u2018immediately\u2019 on beleaguered reflecting pool"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-1vsw7yz\">\n<div class=\"dcr-tr9ye5\">\n<figure id=\"731593c3-dd0a-46c5-84f2-79f5f07b6843\" class=\"dcr-142siv7\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t8m8f2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Workers with poles in pool\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/275769985bb12edcc7825368ca9aa89eb187fda2\/608_0_6221_4979\/master\/6221.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"372.1644430155923\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-evn1e9\"><span class=\"dcr-v822l1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-gup2gr\">\n<div class=\"dcr-fntg6k\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-1xgwz8b\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1os51wo\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">National park workers use vacuums to remove algae from the bottom of the pool.<\/span> Photograph: Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-13fd1ms\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"731593c3-dd0a-46c5-84f2-79f5f07b6843\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-4tmywn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-194i6pr\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-n4pnam\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1hdkqum\"><span class=\"dcr-hvsf4t\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1qvd3m6\">National park workers use vacuums to remove algae from the bottom of the pool.<\/span> Photograph: Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-shrpec\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1jwoxwb\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-1k1a1x\">Trump says repair work to begin \u2018immediately\u2019 on beleaguered reflecting pool<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-m5tuef\">\n<div class=\"dcr-15in7js\">\n<p>Algae blooms and peeling paint mar $14.2m renovation as president claims pool has been \u2018seriously vandalized\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-l3z1yk\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1a4fred\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-ydnaza\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-6d4g12\">\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Repair work will begin \u201cimmediately\u201d at the troubled Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/washington-dc\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Washington DC<\/a>, Donald Trump said on Sunday, after suggesting the pool would need to be drained and blaming alleged \u201cvandals\u201d for the disruption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The reflecting pool has been plagued by algae blooms and peeling paint following the controversial recent renovation efforts for America\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/series\/america-at-250\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">250th anniversary celebrations<\/a> next month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">On Sunday, Trump said he had personally surveyed the damage. \u201cWork will begin immediately on fixing the seriously vandalized Reflecting Pool,\u201d Trump said in <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/116790016615762850\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">a Truth Social post<\/a> on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cI just inspected it, and could only say to myself, and those gathered around me, WOW, who would do such a thing?\u201d the president added, without offering further details.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump had <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/116785296448420208\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">previously said<\/a> that, after meeting with pool contractors, they would \u201cprobably be forced to release and drain much of the water in order to do the necessary repairs, but will have them done as quickly as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/20\/trump-reflecting-pool-renovation-vandalism\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">earlier acknowledged<\/a> \u201creal problems\u201d with the pool in the wake of a hasty $14.2m makeover.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">But he went on to blame the problems on vandals, saying \u201cmany additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">CBS News reporter Emma Nicholson <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/emmacnicholson\/status\/2068776155121865205\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">tweeted <\/a>that an administration official told her five people had been arrested for vandalizing the pool and another five issued federal citations, bring the total number of police reports filed to 14, including one related to an alleged 250ft gash in the pool.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Three-time Olympian David Hearn, who was apprehended, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/2026\/06\/20\/cyclist-arrested-reflecting-pool-denies-trump-vandalism-claims\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">told the Washington Post<\/a> that he had merely stopped by the pool to touch one of the peeling pieces of paint liner to see how it felt, when he was arrested by US park police on a misdemeanor charge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump gave no details on any other apparent arrests and exact details of such apprehensions remained scant on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Meanwhile, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said on Sunday afternoon that citations for vandalism had been issued and people caught vandalizing the 2,000-ft-long reflecting pool will be fully prosecuted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cAnyone who is in a position of vandalizing or attempting to vandalize will face the criminal justice system in DC,\u201d \u200cPirro told Fox News\u2019s Sunday Briefing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Anyone adding products to the pool that can generate algae could face more severe charges, Pirro added, but did not offer statistics or specific details of arrests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Workers from the US National Park Service have sought chemical remedies for the algae bloom, including pouring hydrogen peroxide into the shallow \u2060pool, which is estimated to reach temperatures of more that 85F in the summer months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump posted on social media that 75% of the algae was gone on Friday, when he first raised the issue of vandalism and accused ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl of \u201ctrying to rip the rubber off of the surface\u201d of the pool.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">ABC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump said in his latest post on the topic that immediately after the expensive renovations, which included painting the bottom of the long pond on the National Mall in the heart of historic Washington dark blue, that the pool was in fact reflecting better than ever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cIt hasn\u2019t looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built, but even then, it leaked badly, and didn\u2019t work,\u201d he wrote. \u201cOurs,\u201d he added, \u201cworked perfectly, including the mirror like finish, perfectly reflecting the two Great Monuments, which it never had before!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He was referring to the memorial commemorating Abraham Lincoln and the Washington Monument.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">He cryptically cited vandals, possibly the same ones who had previously scorched or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/11\/8647-national-mall-trump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">roughly etched<\/a> \u201c8647\u201d \u2013 numeric slang for cancelling, or \u201c86ing\u201d, Trump, the 47th president \u2013 into the lawn near the pool earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Trump said that the alleged pool damage \u201cdoes not even include the earlier killing of a large amount of grass which was, by far, the least of it\u201d and he accused vandals of taking \u201csome form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade and of pouring chemicals into the pool\u201d, but again without specific details.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-qxqnsy\"><span class=\"dcr-1rq3vad\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-1dzx48f\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-1xavc9x\">\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/washington-dc\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Washington DC<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/donaldtrump\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-politics\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">US politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-hj8byr\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-1gwziyt\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-nu129i\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Trump%20says%20repair%20work%20to%20begin%20%E2%80%98immediately%E2%80%99%20on%20beleaguered%20reflecting%20pool&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/21\/trump-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-125qj9d\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-zhx6xs\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Fjun%2F21%2Ftrump-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/jun\/21\/trump-lincoln-memorial-reflecting-pool\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-14rjinq\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1el9k3p\"><span class=\"dcr-1vetsv0\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National park workers use vacuums to remove algae from the bottom of the pool. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}