United States of America

Burgum: Same Contractor Will Perform New Repairs at Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Is the reflecting pool contract being used for grift or is it a genuine restoration success story?

JUL 6·Updated JUL 7

Burgum: Same Contractor Will Perform New Repairs at Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Story

Above: U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in Medora, North Dakota on July 3. Image credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library

The Facts

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum confirmed Sunday that the federal government will not seek new bids to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, saying the same company that installed the liner "did a fantastic job" and will handle the repairs. He added that the pool would be partially drained in the coming weeks.
Time
The Associated Press
Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia-based company that previously worked on Trump properties, received a $14.7 million no-bid contract to repaint and waterproof the pool's concrete floor. Trump had originally estimated the project would cost between $1.5 million and $2 million.
Baltimore Sun
NBC
This comes after a federal grand jury indicted former three-time U.S. Olympian David Hearn on a felony destruction of property charge. Hearn denied wrongdoing, saying he touched a piece of already detached coating out of curiosity.
NBC
Baltimore Sun
Burgum said that the administration has video and eyewitness reports supporting vandalism charges and that the U.S. Park Police filed 14 distinct vandalism reports, resulting in at least seven arrests and five federal citations. He stated the liner damage could not have occurred naturally, saying cuts in isolated spots indicated deliberate action.
Daily Wire
Time
A separate $1.7 million no-bid contract was awarded to Ohio-based Green Water Solutions to install nanobubbler ozone technology to address an algae bloom in the pool. The company's COO acknowledged that the technology had never previously been used on a pool.
Time
The Hill
About 10 Democratic senators and House members launched an investigation into the pool project, with six senators writing that "taxpayers deserve a full explanation of how these failures occurred." Atlantic Industrial Coatings' profit margin of 20% far exceeded the typical federal contractor range of six to 12 percent.
USA Today
The Associated Press
Time

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The Spin

Anti-Trump narrative

Allowing the Trump-adjacent company that already received a $14 million no-bid contract for shoddy work to attempt to fix its mess at the reflecting pool, on the taxpayer's dime, is just more Trump corruption. With there being no lawsuit or competitive rebidding or accountability, Trump is again showing that he values rewarding insiders over efficiently running the government.

Bluesky Social

Pro-Trump narrative

The reflecting pool renovation is a genuine success story. An industrial liner stopped the leaking and nanobubbler technology is keeping algae under control. Some vandalism happened, but that's already being addressed and will be fully repaired in the coming weeks. Calling this project a failure ignores the real, measurable improvements that have already been delivered.

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