Contractor Told Trump Administration Its Own Mistakes Ruined the Reflecting Pool

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool remains drained and under repair on Friday, 11 September 2026, more than two months after it reopened for the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations. The Virginia-based contractor that renovated it has told the Trump administration, in writing, that its own errors and a flawed repair plan caused the blue liner to peel and break loose — not vandalism. The company's reports, reviewed by The New York Times, directly contradict the vandalism narrative President Donald Trump repeated for weeks.

Contractor Told Trump Administration Its Own Mistakes Ruined the Reflecting Pool

Washington, D.C. — Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the Virginia-based contractor awarded a $14.7 million no-bid contract in spring 2026 to repaint and waterproof the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool's concrete floor, told the Trump administration that errors in its own work and flaws in the repair plan caused the pool's new blue liner to peel and break loose, according to government documents reviewed by The New York Times. The company first blamed its own errors in a report dated 14 August 2026 and provided more detail on 2 September 2026. The documents include Atlantic's reports to the government plus daily progress updates from the National Park Service over the past two months; they had not previously been reported.

What the Documents Say

Atlantic's own account identifies two causes. Because of what the company called "human oversight," workers in some areas did not spray enough of the primer that made the layers of the liner stick together.

The larger problem was in the repair plan itself. The plan laid out in the contract called for the layers of liner to include two chemicals that turned out to be incompatible. The chemical on top reached a temperature hotter than what the compound underneath could withstand, and the heat caused the bottom layer to blister and come loose.

Atlantic said it had not expected that outcome because it was "very uncommon" to mix the two products in that way. The manufacturer of the compounds is Rhino Linings. Its CEO, Pierre Gagnon, said in a June statement that the peeling liner was "limited to isolated areas" of the pool. To redo the repairs, Atlantic said it would use a smaller team of workers that would be closely supervised and would consult an adviser from the manufacturer of the compounds.

The Vandalism Claim

Atlantic did blame vandals for cuts in the caulking around the pool's edge that National Park Service workers had previously reported to police. The company did not link those cuts to the peeling of the blue liner on the pool's floor.

Trump repeatedly blamed vandals wielding knives or box cutters for damage to the pool's "American flag blue" liner, even after the Justice Department dropped charges against people accused of vandalizing the national landmark. He referred to vandals as "sick people."

In a social media post on 9 August 2026, he conceded: "there is no video or proof." He wrote: "There was also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening. But it was a very small area of this massive Pool, and was relatively inconsequential." At an August news conference on 10 August 2026, he acknowledged contractor error but continued to claim damage from vandalism was "substantial," saying: "Unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage itself." Trump said then that the pool would reopen "shortly." It remains drained a month later.

The Criminal Case That Collapsed

The Justice Department charged several people with vandalizing the pool in early July 2026. On 2 July 2026, federal prosecutors announced the indictment of David Hearn, a former U.S. Olympic canoeist, accused of pulling up a piece of the liner, on a felony vandalism charge.

Prosecutors began moving to dismiss the cases on 31 July 2026. A federal court filing said information later supplied by the Interior Department showed the damage was caused by a flawed installation and the rush to finish the project ahead of the country's 250th anniversary celebrations on 4 July, not vandalism.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, wrote that the Interior Department had misled her staff about the extent to which the damage had stemmed from vandalism rather than a "botched installation." Trump publicly criticized the decision and suggested Pirro should revisit it; he remarked that Pirro had "folded like an umbrella" after she dropped the charges against Hearn. Pirro, Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had a contentious meeting in which Pirro blamed Burgum for misleading the president about what the evidence suggested.

On Wednesday, 9 September 2026, Pirro declined to answer a reporter's question about her office's now-dropped vandalism case, saying: "No, no and no! Who wants to know about this? How many times do I have to say no? I am not talking about that." During the hearing, Judge Todd Edelman challenged prosecutors to explain their resistance to a with-prejudice dismissal, pointedly questioning how Trump's public calls for renewed charges could be read as anything other than pressure to pursue what the government itself had called a meritless case. Prosecutors acknowledged they had no active investigation into Hearn, yet still resisted any ruling that would permanently foreclose the possibility of future charges.

CBS News reported that the White House raised the possibility with Justice Department officials of pursuing Hearn on a lesser misdemeanor charge, an avenue that would sidestep the grand jury process entirely. NBC News reported that court filings showed a National Park Service engineer had flagged the peeling issue in a June 11 email, linking it to the installation process and overspray from the contractor. Prosecutors said they were unaware of that documentation when they charged Hearn.

The Repair That Keeps Failing

On 13 August 2026, the contractor began power-washing the pool to remove loose chunks of blue liner. By the end of the next day, workers had filled one large trash bag, but many more bits of liner remained stuck to the pool's concrete slabs and would need to be removed later with razor blades, hammers and crowbars.

After removing the loose pieces, Atlantic sought to reapply the blue coating, only to encounter the same problems: blisters appeared under the surface, between layers of the lining. Early in September 2026, the company concluded that the problem was the interaction between the two compounds and stopped layering the hotter one on top. That reduced the blisters but did not stop them completely.

Also early in September, the contractor identified a new potential culprit: sweat. It said a worker, wearing a protective suit under the hot Washington sun, was leaving droplets of sweat on the coating, which were then trapped when new layers were sprayed on top. The man then opened the top part of his protective suit and wrapped cloth around his head and wrists to contain the sweat.

On Thursday, 10 September 2026, the pool was full of workers. Some were seen tearing up large strips of the blue lining, while another sprayed a new layer of coating as a man in a shirt reading "Atlantic Coating Inspection" watched. The pool is still drained.

Who Supervised the Work

A National Park Service employee notified workers on 14 August that Trump would be flying over the pool on Marine One that day. Gregory Wischer, a political appointee at the Interior Department, visited the reflecting pool that day to personally supervise the work.

Wischer is a former executive at a metal processing company. He originally joined the Trump administration in 2025 to work on critical minerals policy, but has since shifted his focus to the reflecting pool renovation and the president's other projects in Washington.

In March, Interior Department visitor logs show Wischer met with David Schutzenhofer, the manager of a Trump Organization golf club in New Jersey. The approach used on the pool had not previously been tested and was designed in part by Schutzenhofer, according to the documents.

What the Administration Says

Katie Martin, a spokesperson for the Interior Department, did not directly address questions about the contractor's findings but issued a statement that appeared to continue blaming vandals, saying they had "repeatedly reached into the pool and ripped at the coating." Martin said Atlantic was now "well on its way" to repairing the pool. She did not say when it would be refilled.

A White House spokesperson, Taylor Rogers, offered a broad statement lauding Trump's efforts and referred questions about the contractor's findings to the Interior Department: "President Trump promised to make D.C. safe and beautiful, and he's delivering." Rogers also said: "For years, the Reflecting Pool sat neglected, plagued with algae, and leaking millions of gallons of water. Fixing it was common sense. It's another example of President Trump restoring our nation's capital for the American people."

An Interior Department spokesperson maintained that sections of the pool were damaged by vandals and said the administration is still "cleaning up Obama's and Biden's mess." The spokesperson said: "Like any major construction project — and in this case, the world's largest reflecting pool which was worked on in record time for the 250th celebrations — there are always parts of a project where a contractor returns to make sure the work is perfect."

The Interior Department also said: "[Atlantic] is contractually obligated to fix the Reflecting Pool. As good stewards of taxpayer money, unlike Obama, it would be wasteful to bring in a new company to finish the job." The Parks Service brought back Atlantic, which won the no-bid contract, to complete additional repairs. The Interior Department said the pool will soon open with new "American Flag blue" paint, repaired plumbing, shiny granite coping stones and a brand new water treatment system. Atlantic has said it would repair the pool again under the project's warranty. Atlantic Industrial Coatings and Rhino Linings did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Follow the Money

The government has agreed to pay Atlantic $14.7 million for its work. Trump originally said the renovation would require $2 million to $3 million. CNN reported that cumulative spending on the project crossed $14 million this summer.

Separately, the Interior Department awarded a $2.7 million contract to American Ag Energy, a Massachusetts-based renewable energy firm, to tackle the pool's ongoing algae problem, according to CNN. Within weeks of the 4 July reopening, an algae bloom developed and material at the bottom of the pool started peeling off.

The renovation was fast-tracked so the pool would be finished before the nation's 250th birthday celebrations on 4 July 2026. The Guardian published a timeline of the saga on 1 August 2026 titled "Trump's reflecting pool saga: a timeline of failure and finger-pointing." Photographs of the drained pool with equipment in it were taken 7 September 2026.

What to watch next: whether the Interior Department releases the full contractor reports, whether the Justice Department formally closes the door on charges against David Hearn, and whether the pool holds water once Atlantic completes its warranty work.

By Jessica Ali, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: The New York Times, Reuters, The Guardian, Quartz, The Washington Sun, CNN, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News.