May 8, 2026, 12:15 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump rode across the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to check out the renovations he ordered.
The president made the trip on Thursday, May 7, riding through the now-empty pool as it undergoes a makeover.
The visit was a surprise and shut down much of the National Mall in Washington D.C. due to the arrival of the president and his motorcade, reported FOX 5 Washington DC and TheDMVLive on X.
He eventually got out of the vehicle and answered questions for reporters. When an ABC News reporter asked why he was focusing on renovating the pool amid the Iran war, Trump said, “I want to keep our country beautiful and safe.”
“This was a disgusting place,” he said. “They had to take 11 or 12 truckloads of garbage out of that lake, out of that water, that sat there for years like that.”
He said the United States is about “beauty, cleanliness, safety, great people, (and) not a filthy capital.”
“Such a stupid question,” he said. “We’re fixing up the reflecting pond to the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and you say, ‘Why are you fixing it up?’ Because you can understand dirt, maybe, better than I can but I won’t allow it.”
How did the renovations come about?
The president announced the renovations on April 23, noting that a friend of his from Germany who visited a few years ago saw it and called it “disgusting” and “not representative of the country.”
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was built around 1922, Trump noted.
“It was built out of granite and various stones on the bottom,” Trump said. “It never looked great because it’s not really meant to be a stone that’s underwater for that much of a period of time.”
Calling the pond “incredible,” he said the condition was “terrible,” so he got some of the best contractors he has worked with to look at the pond and assess the situation.
According to one contractor he worked with, the pool was decaying and could be cleaned up in about two weeks. The pair decided on the color “American Flag Blue” to redo the pool, he said.
“This is an amazing thing that’s happening,” he said. “This is a big, big beautification.”
The sidewalk areas will also be updated and sandblasted so they’ll look “like brand new,” he said.
He added that the renovations were previously estimated to cost $301 million and take 3 to 3 1⁄2 years, but under his plan, the makeover will take much less time and will cost “a fraction of the cost,” or about $1.5 million.
“In a couple of weeks, we’re going to have the most beautiful reflective pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial that you’ve ever seen,” Trump said on April 23.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s trending team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her atsdmartin@usatoday.com.
