Paint peels from Trump-backed $14 million Reflecting Pool redo
What's new: Workers were pumping out blue paint chips and algae days before July 4 events tied to the US 250th anniversary.
Fresh problems have hit the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation pushed by President Donald Trump, with newly applied blue paint peeling from the bottom and algae turning the water green. An AFP photographer on June 19 saw workers pumping paint fragments and algae from the 610-meter pool on the National Mall in Washington. US media have put the cost of the repainting project at about $14 million. Trump wrote on Truth Social that the algae was mostly gone and blamed the damage on vandalism, adding that investigators were looking into it. The project is part of a broader effort to remake prominent Washington landmarks ahead of July 4 celebrations marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence.