Trump says beleaguered reflecting pool will ‘probably’ be drained for repairs

Algae blooms and peeling paint mar $14.2m renovation as president blames problems on ‘disgraceful Vandalism’

The troublesome Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington is “probably” going to be drained for repairs, Donald Trump has said, after algae blooms and peeling paint marred the controversial recent renovation efforts for America’s 250th anniversary celebrations next month.

In a Truth Social post late on Saturday, Trump said that after meeting with pool contractors, they would “probably 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”.

He had earlier acknowledged “real problems” with the pool in the wake of a hasty $14.2m makeover.

But he went on to blame the problems on vandals, saying “many additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool”.

Trump claimed on Saturday several people had been arrested for alleged vandalism. Three-time Olympian David Hearn, who was apprehended, told the Washington Post 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.

Trump gave no details on any other apparent arrests and details of any such apprehensions remained unclear on Sunday afternoon.

Like many people who have struggled to control algae blooms in pools or ponds of standing water, Trump’s battle with eukaryotic organisms has shown no sign of being promptly resolved.

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.

“It hasn’t looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built, but even then, it leaked badly, and didn’t work,” he wrote. “Ours,” he added, “worked perfectly, including the mirror like finish, perfectly reflecting the two Great Monuments, which it never had before!”

He was referring to the memorial commemorating Abraham Lincoln and the Washington Monument.

He cryptically cited vandals, possibly the same ones who had previously scorched or roughly etched “8647” – numeric slang for cancelling, or “86ing”, Trump, the 47th president – into the lawn near the pool earlier this month.

Trump said that the alleged pool damage “does not even include the earlier killing of a large amount of grass which was, by far, the least of it” and he accused said vandals of taking “some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade and of pouring chemicals into the pool”.

No official details were given on any perpetrators.