President Donald Trump is again deflecting blame for the ongoing issues with his costly renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, this time targeting an algae outbreak.
“They put in algae! Who the hell put in algae?” Trump asked during a speech in Medora, North Dakota, on Wednesday.
The president accused former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden of failing to fix the pool despite spending millions of dollars “trying” to do so. Trump, who has potentially spent over $1 billion on various Washington, D.C., renovations, claimed he spent only “a very small amount of money” on the Reflecting Pool in comparison.
Trump Alleges Obama and Biden Mismanaged Pool Renovations
“What they don’t say is Barack Hussein Obama – Have you heard of him? – Barack Hussein Obama spent tens of millions of dollars trying to fix it, and it was a disaster,” Trump continued. “Sleepy Joe Biden spent millions of dollars trying to fix it, and he was unable to do it.”
“But we did it, and it works beautifully,” he added. “We got rid of the algae, which they put in,” Trump claimed.
He also referenced protesters who celebrated the algae bloom, saying, “They had a couple of people with signs [that said] ‘Protect the algae.’ Can you believe this? This world has gone crazy.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously slammed the same protesters, calling them “deranged leftist[s].”
Renovation Costs and Fact Check
Trump first announced plans to spruce up Washington in April ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary, claiming the Reflecting Pool revamp would cost only $1.5 million. However, the pool renovations have since exceeded $16 million.
Obama oversaw a multimillion-dollar renovation of the pool, but the final bill didn’t come close to Trump’s price tag. FactCheck.Org also debunked Trump’s claims that the Biden administration conducted major work on the pool.
Biden called Trump a “loser” last week over the Reflecting Pool drama. Trump also repeated unproven and likely false claims that the pool was vandalized with a knife.
Watch Trump’s remarks below. Skip to the 49:37 mark to hear his comments about the Reflecting Pool.
