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Archive photo · 25 May 2026Donald Trump Delivers Closing Pitch At Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool After Botched Renovation
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Trump delivers closing pitch at Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of midterms Reflecting Pool renovations botched, leaving site closed
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Trump at Reflecting Pool
President Donald Trump is scheduled to make his closing pitch of the midterm elections at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday at 2 p.m. Eastern, after he told reporters in Iowa that speaking at the site would "show how beautiful it is."
“The president is expected to speak at 2 p.m. EDT.”
The Reflecting Pool has been closed and fenced off since July, after earlier repairs ended in a debacle that included the pool’s new blue waterproof coating peeling up and algae blooms turning the water bright green.
Contractors applied a new layer of waterproofing and flushed out the pool’s filtration system, and photos showed the pool gradually refilling.
The PBS account said the Reflecting Pool saga began in April when he said he wanted to change its color and would use contractors he knew to fix the monument in mere days and for about $1.5 million before Independence Day.
The PBS account also said the repairs wrapped up nearly three months behind schedule and the budget ballooned to more than 10 times Trump’s early estimate, after Trump had initially declared the work was complete in June.
Vandals vs repair work
Trump told reporters in Iowa that the Reflecting Pool was "vandalized badly" and said, "We have cameras all over the place now for the vandals."
Federal prosecutors and the contractors who repaired the pool blamed the biggest problem on flaws in the repair work, even as Trump continued to attribute the problems to vandals.
The office of U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, former Fox News host and longtime Trump ally Jeanine Pirro, said the problems were caused by shoddy workmanship.
The Justice Department charged former Olympian David Hearn with intentionally damaging the Reflecting Pool, then abruptly dropped the case this summer, determining he was not responsible, and a judge later permanently dismissed it.
PBS reported that Trump fumed that Pirro "choked" and said he was "disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed. She folded like an umbrella" after the case was dropped.
Campaign context and fallout
Trump’s Reflecting Pool event is positioned as part of his final sprint ahead of Election Day, with PBS describing it as a departure from his month-long race to stage more than 25 rallies in largely conservative areas. Trump wrote on his social media site that his Sunday evening rally in Kansas, which followed his Iowa visit, was "my last stop." The Reflecting Pool became a high-profile symbol of Trump’s second administration’s struggles with governing, and the president would make closing arguments before the midterm elections there.
“Trump wrote on his social media site that his Sunday evening rally in Kansas — which followed his Iowa visit — was ‘my last stop.’”
Trump opted for an event at a Washington renovation project that has been embarrassing and contentious, rather than using Monday to travel to key states and try to energize his "Make America Great Again" supporters. Trump has bristled at criticisms from former President Barack Obama and other Democrats that he spent too much time focused on construction projects, while Trump insisted the renovations relax him and that he does them quickly and without requiring too much planning time.
