Interior secretary says administration will use the same company to repair Reflecting Pool

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Sunday that the government will use the same company that was awarded a multimillion-dollar, no-bid contract to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to repair damage to its original work.

Limited time: Save 25% on NBC News subscription

Get exclusive reporting, live Q&As and ad-free reading.

Burgum said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the company the government used to paint the base of the pool “American flag blue” did “extremely well,” alleging that chunks of paint have become loose because of vandalism.

“We will use the same company because they did a fantastic job,” Burgum said.

The administration has faced scrutiny after it awarded a $13.1 million, no-bid contract to paint the pool to Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a company that previously worked on Trump properties.

Trump originally estimated the price at $1.5 million to $2 million . Atlantic Industrial Coatings owner Eddie Wood told NBC News last month that the project was initially priced at $13.1 million and then increased to $14.6 million, citing additional work from the National Park Service.

Pieces of the blue paint have come loose since work on the pool concluded , and algae bloomed in the water, giving it a bright green shade. The government awarded an additional $1.7 million contract to Green Water Solutions, a company linked to a wealthy Trump donor, to eliminate the algae.

Trump, without evidence, claimed that the paint was coming off because vandals cut large gashes in the floor. Several people have been arrested and cited since Trump’s claim, and U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted last week on a single count of destruction of property after he was accused of causing more than $1,000 worth of damage to the pool.

Hearn has denied wrongdoing and has said he did not remove, tear or destroy the coating. He previously told NBC News he was arrested and detained for five hours after he touched a piece of already detached coating during a bike ride to “satisfy my curiosity as a citizen.”

Asked about Hearn’s arrest Sunday, Burgum said Hearn can “say what he wants to say” and the courts will decide whether he is at fault.

“You can be a former governor, you can be a former this, you can be a former that, but just because you were a former something doesn’t exclude you from the law today,” Burgum said.