Trump attacks New York Times over report on reflecting pool’s rising costs

The Hill ^ | May 12, 2026 | Sophie Bram

[Miami Rebel]

President Trump ripped The New York Times on Tuesday morning over a report detailing the ballooning cost of his project to repair and renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

“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 in a lengthy, early-morning Truth Social post.

“Just like they covered my Landslide 2024 Presidential Election Victory inaccurately, and without shame, constantly making major mistakes and incorrect predictions at every path along the way, they are now trying to justify Obama and Biden’s expensively botched attempt at fixing the long broken, unsightly, and unsanitary Reflecting Pool that NOW sits majestically between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial,” he continued.

Trump ordered the project in April to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary, detailing plans to repaint the reflecting pool “American flag blue,” make sure its bottom is waterproof and mend leaking joints.

t was originally announced with an estimated cost of $1.8 million, but the Times cited federal records showing the actual cost has jumped by more than $11 million to an anticipated $13.1 million.

The Interior Department reportedly added $6.2 million to the previous cost of the no-bid contract on Friday, which was awarded to a Virginia firm called Atlantic Industrial Coatings.

“The contract price reflects the effort necessary to expedite the timeline of completing the leak prevention coating project — more people, more materials, more equipment and longer hours ahead of our 250th,” an Interior spokesperson told The Hill on Monday.

In his post, Trump called the current reflecting pool “an embarrassment” to Washington, D.C., and the country, describing its cosmetic appearance as a “total mess for all to see.”

“I worked with our now strong Department of the Interior and explained to them that we should view this as a highly sophisticated swimming pool, not the leaking, dilapidated facade, joints and all, of a building,” the president wrote. “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, and could complete the project in 2 weeks rather than 4 years. What a difference in time and money, and for a far superior end result!”

He also pushed back against criticism that the project was “just a paint job,” arguing it was instead “deeply complicated work of smart and beautiful construction.”

“It won’t leak, it will shine, and be the pride of Washington D.C. for decades to come,” Trump wrote. “I saved more than 390 Million Dollars, and 4 years of no ‘mess,’ and was, of course, given no credit by the biased New York Times.”

“Also, I didn’t give out the contract, ‘Interior’ did, to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before,” the president continued. Atlantic Industrial Coatings previously repaired swimming pools at Trump’s golf club in Sterling, Va.

The project is slated for completion by July 4, but a Washington-based nonprofit group has sued to stop the overhaul of the longtime fixture of the National Mall.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation and its founder, Charles Birnbaum, argued in a lawsuit filed this week that the blue paint coating is “altering the historic character” of the reflecting pool without proper authority. It alleged violations of both the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: pool

[Miami Rebel]

President Trump posted a very clever AI image of Obama, Biden, and Pelosi floating in fecal matter in the pool.

The new blue looks beautiful.