Donald Trump’s Reflecting Pool disaster just got even more embarrassing.
The contractor his administration hired to renovate the iconic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has acknowledged that problems with the design and installation caused the pool’s blue liner to peel and blister—undercutting the administration’s repeated claims that “vandals” were responsible.
Atlantic Industrial Coatings laid out the problems in government documents dated August 14 and September 2, according to The New York Times.
And the explanation is remarkably mundane.
Workers failed to use enough primer, meaning layers of the liner did not properly adhere. The contractor described the mistake as “human oversight.”
Then there was a chemistry problem.
Two chemicals used in different layers of the liner were incompatible. When the upper layer heated up in the summer sun, the lower layer blistered and separated. Atlantic said the interaction had not been anticipated because the chemicals rarely come into contact with each other.
So the $14.7 million renovation didn’t simply encounter some mysterious act of vandalism.
The contractor now says its own design and construction problems caused the liner to fail.
That is particularly awkward for Trump because his administration had rushed the project in an effort to have it ready for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations in July. Government records previously reviewed by prosecutors showed that the installation had fallen behind schedule and that the rush contributed to flawed work.
The administration awarded Atlantic Industrial Coatings a no-bid contract for the job. David Schutzenhofer, the general manager of Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, also helped design the project, further tying the renovation to Trump’s inner circle.
And after spending millions on the renovation, the pool is still drained.
Atlantic says it will consult an adviser for Rhino Linings, the manufacturer of one of the chemicals involved, as it repairs the liner with a smaller crew.
But the biggest problem for the administration may not be the peeling liner. It’s the vandalism story.
Trump repeatedly blamed vandals for the damage and continued to defend that explanation even after federal prosecutors backed away from criminal cases against people accused of damaging the pool.
In July, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office moved to dismiss charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn and three others. Prosecutors said newly obtained Interior Department records indicated that the damage was the result of a “botched” installation by Atlantic Industrial Coatings—not vandalism. They also said the Interior Department had failed to provide prosecutors with complete information about the installation problems.
The prosecutors’ conclusion was unusually blunt. The records “strongly suggest” that a rushed and botched installation led to the damage.
Trump, however, rejected that explanation and criticized Pirro after the charges were dropped.
Now the contractor itself has acknowledged specific installation failures that help explain why the liner peeled and blistered.
That puts the administration in an increasingly awkward position.
The White House did not directly address the contractor’s admission when asked about it.
Instead, spokesperson Taylor Rogers defended the project, saying Trump had promised to make Washington “safe and beautiful” and arguing that the Reflecting Pool had long been neglected, plagued by algae and leaking millions of gallons of water.
The Interior Department similarly defended the work, saying Atlantic Industrial Coatings remains on the job “to make sure the work is perfect,” while continuing to maintain that vandals were responsible for damage.
But the contractor’s own account adds another humiliating layer to a saga that was supposed to showcase Trump’s ability to get things done quickly.
Instead, the pool was fast-tracked, the liner failed, millions of dollars have been spent, criminal cases were brought and then dropped—and now the contractor hired by Trump’s administration is acknowledging that installation mistakes played a central role in the mess.
