Donald Trump unloaded on The New York Times in a 400-word Truth Social post after publicly available federal spending records revealed his administration paid a Virginia-based contractor more than $13.1 million to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The president had initially said the project could be done for $1.5 million.
Trump's Social Media Outburst
“The Failing New York Times, which is one of the worst newspapers anywhere in the World, and is losing subscribers on an hourly basis, is now at it again,” Trump wrote at 6:46 a.m. Tuesday. He followed up with an AI-generated image showing former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden alongside former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi submerged in a sewage-filled reflecting pool, captioned “Dumacrats Love Sewage.”
Contract Awards and Costs
Last month, Atlantic Industrial Coatings LLC was awarded a no-bid federal contract worth nearly $7 million for work on the pool. Records show the company received an additional $6.2 million last week, bringing total spending to over $13.1 million. The administration bypassed competitive bidding, arguing urgency to avoid “serious injury” to the government, though the nature of that injury remains unclear.
Trump initially claimed the renovation would cost $1.5 million and take one week. He told reporters last month, “I said, ‘Well, what about turquoise, like in the Bahamas?’” He later agreed to “American flag blue” paint for the pool floor.
Defense from the Interior Department
A Department of Interior spokesperson told The Independent that the National Park Service “chose the best company to expedite the repair of the iconic Reflecting Pool” before the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations on July 4. The project also includes a “state-of-the-art ozone nanobubbler filtration system” and a dedicated maintenance crew.
Trump's Claims vs. Reality
Trump accused the Times of “trying to justify Obama and Biden’s expensively botched attempt” at fixing the pool, which underwent major renovations from 2010 to 2012 at a cost of roughly $38 million. He claimed credit for saving money, writing, “Instead of taking 4 years to build, at a cost, granite pavers and all, of 400 Million Dollars, we could construct a far superior Reflecting Pool for 5 or 6 Million Dollars.” However, federal records show the current project has already exceeded $13 million.
Despite boasting of a “guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools up the road,” Trump said he did not know the contractor. Atlantic Industrial Coatings LLC had not previously held a federal contract. The project is expected to be completed by May 22.
Trump also attacked Times reporter David Fahrenthold for describing the work as a “paint job,” insisting it is “a deeply complicated work of smart and beautiful construction” that “won’t leak, it will shine, and be the pride of Washington D.C. for decades to come.”
