WASHINGTON President Donald Trump unveiled a project to restore the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, after hearing complaints about the filthy water and leaking foundation.
Trump said the Biden administration had studied replacing the iconic pools granite but never embarked on the project, estimated to cost $301 million and to last more than three years.
The Reflecting Pool, near the Lincoln Memorial and along the National Mall, is boarded up as it undergoes renovations in Washington, April 16.
Instead, Trump said contractors would sandblast, caulk and resurface the bottom like an industrial-grade pool for an estimated $1.5 million and be finished in a few weeks.
A fraction of the cost and a fraction of the time, and youll get a better product, Trump told reporters April 23 in the Oval Office during an event on drug prices.
Trump has been sprucing up the capital city as a showcase for World Cup soccer games in June and July, and the countrys 250th anniversary on July 4. He is also building a $400 million ballroom for the White House and proposing a triumphal arch on an island in the Potomac River.
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Trump noted that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in front of the Reflecting Pool in 1963 in front of 1 million people, delivering his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. Trump said he gave a speech there, too, during his first term and he disputed crowd estimates of 25,000, saying his audience was probably larger than Kings.
I had the same exact crowd and maybe a little bit more, Trump said.
The Reflecting Pool was built in 1922. Trump described it as an odd shape: 2,200 feet long, 167 feet wide and about 1.5 to 2 feet deep.
Trump said granite and other stones used to construct it werent the best for holding water, like the hundreds of swimming pools he built as a real estate developer.
It was leaking like a sieve, Trump said.
The president added that he inspected the pool after hearing from a friend visiting from Germany who called the appearance sad.
He said its filthy, dirty, the water is disgusting looking, Trump said. Its not representative of the country.
When a contractor working on the project asked what color he would like for the bottom, Trump said he suggested turquoise, like in the Bahamas. But Trump said the individual quickly persuaded him to choose the color: American flag blue.
Thats the color I like, Trump said.
