Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) is demanding that President Donald Trump personally repay taxpayers for the millions spent on a rushed renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has become a cesspool of algae and peeling blue sealant.
Hickenlooper's Letter to Trump
In a letter first obtained by HuffPost, Hickenlooper called the situation “a national embarrassment.” He wrote: “Under the guise of an ‘emergency,’ your Administration bypassed competitive bidding processes to rush a renovation of the iconic Reflecting Pool. Today, the Reflecting Pool is a fluorescent green swamp of algae, and the expensive blue sealant is already peeling off the bottom in sheets.” The senator added, “The bill for this fiasco should only belong to you, Mr. President.”
Background on the Botched Renovation
The mess was entirely avoidable. Trump ordered the pool painted “American flag blue” in time for a July 4th photo-op, bypassing laws and awarding no-bid contracts. The result: shoddy work, a missed deadline, and more than $16 million in taxpayer money wasted. The pool is now filled with algae and chunks of blue sealant.
Trump's Vandalism Claims Dismissed
Trump has baselessly blamed mysterious vandals, suggesting people used box cutters to slit the sealant and dumped algae into the water overnight. On Monday, he told reporters: “We have a 290, 300-foot slit right through it, probably a box cutter or a knife of some kind. We had people lifting up the bays. It’s not a lot of damage, but we’ll probably have to let the water out and re-fix it.”
Hickenlooper scoffed at these claims: “This was not a result of vandalism, but your administration’s incompetence.”
White House Response
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
