The Trump administration’s overhaul of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has become even messier, with newly obtained federal documents showing that the contractor hired to repaint the basin bright blue secured what government officials themselves described as an “inflated” profit margin while still struggling to stop the pool from leaking.
The latest revelations, first reported by the New York Times, arrive just weeks after the Trump administration was sued over the controversial renovation project, which critics argue bulldozed past the normal federal review process for changes to one of Washington’s most recognizable historic landmarks.
At the center of the dispute is Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia company with no previous federal contracts that was selected earlier this year to repair the Reflecting Pool ahead of celebrations tied to the country’s 250th anniversary. President Donald Trump initially claimed the work would cost less than $2 million and take about a week to complete. Federal records now show the government ultimately agreed to pay the company roughly $13.1 million.
According to documents reviewed by the Times, the company charged a 20 percent profit margin on the project, well above the 6 to 12 percent range that National Park Service officials considered typical for similar federal construction contracts. The contractor also added another 20 percent for overhead. One Park Service contracting specialist reportedly described the combined figure as “excessive” in internal analyses reviewed by the newspaper.
To further muddy the waters, internal Park Service records cited by the Times indicate that Atlantic Industrial Coatings initially failed multiple attempts to seal the gaps between the Reflecting Pool’s concrete slabs, the very leaks the renovation was supposed to address. Workers reportedly had to remove some of the material they had already installed and begin again.
The company has already coated much of the basin in what Trump has repeatedly described as “American Flag blue,” a decision that triggered backlash from preservationists, landscape historians, and critics who argued the project transformed the subdued tones of the memorial into something closer to a resort swimming pool than a national monument.
Earlier this month, the Cultural Landscape Foundation sued the Interior Department in federal court, arguing that officials knowingly sidestepped legally required historic-preservation reviews in their rush to complete the project ahead of next year’s 250th-anniversary celebrations. In a recent court filing, attorneys for the group pointed to internal government documents that allegedly show National Park Service officials acknowledged the repainting project was likely not eligible for the “streamlined review” process they ultimately used anyway.
One passage quoted in the filing states that officials moved forward because of pressure from “White House leadership” and the compressed timeline tied to the celebrations.
The administration has defended the renovation as necessary maintenance work on a pool that has suffered from leaks and algae problems for decades despite multiple expensive repair campaigns. The Obama administration previously spent more than $35 million renovating the site, only for leaks to reportedly return the following year.
Still, the optics around the project have become increasingly difficult for the administration to shake: a no-bid contract, a price tag ballooned by millions of dollars, a bright blue coating visible from the Lincoln Memorial steps, and lingering questions about whether the repairs will actually solve the problem they were meant to fix.
