Trump wraps up Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool makeover; water to be refilled this weekend

President Trump says the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation is complete and will be refilled with water by Sunday; the project includes repainting the basin in a deep blue he calls 'American flag blue' with administration cost estimates of about $1.5–$2 million, though contracts awarded total roughly $14.8 million. The pool—built in the 1920s and located between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument—uses river water from the nearby Tidal Basin, and critics have questioned the cost and appearance, including a lawsuit by the Cultural Landscape Foundation seeking to stop the dark-grey paint as too theme-park in style.