Trump gave $6.9M no-bid contract to his ‘pool guy’ to repaint reflection pool under ‘urgent’ exemption
President Donald Trump used a government exemption to give a $6.9 million no-bid contract to his “pool guy” to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to an ocean-blue color after complaining it “never looked great.”
So the ‘urgent’ need to repaint a pool an ocean blue somehow bypasses competitive bidding? Sounds like a sweetheart deal for the president’s personal pool guy.
I guess fixing the actual water quality issues in the reflecting pool was too complicated—much easier to just paint it blue with a $6.9 million contract.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is an iconic landmark, not someone’s backyard. Using a no-bid contract for a cosmetic change is a blatant misuse of public funds.
If the pool ‘never looked great,’ maybe the problem is the aging infrastructure, not the color. This feels like another example of Trump treating public property like his private resort.
I’d love to see the ‘urgent’ justification for this. How does repainting a reflection pool qualify as an emergency that requires a no-bid contract to a friend?