Trump Hits Back at New York Times Over Reflecting Pool Story on 9/11 - Newsweek

President Donald Trump has hit back at The New York Times over its reporting on damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, after the newspaper published a story on the landmark on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack.

Trump shared an X post from the U.S. Department of the Interior on Truth Social early Sunday that accused the Times of spending "time and resources analyzing the Reflecting Pool" on September 11 while failing to report on what the department described as significant vandalism at the site.

The clash follows a Times report that cited contractor documents indicating the pool's deterioration stemmed from design and construction errors during the renovation project.

According to the newspaper, contractor Atlantic Industrial Coatings found that workers failed to apply sufficient primer in some areas and used chemically incompatible layers in the liner, contributing to bubbling, peeling and other damage to the newly renovated pool.

According to the Times report, the contractor said the pool’s new blue liner peeled and tore due to "human oversight" and a flawed plan that used two incompatible chemicals, as per government documents reviewed by the outlet.

The report states that the chemical on top reached a temperature hotter than the compound underneath could withstand, and the heat caused the bottom layer to blister and come loose.

The Trump administration has previously blamed vandalism for at least some of the damage and federal authorities pursued allegations against individuals accused of damaging the pool. The Justice Department later dropped a case against former Olympian David Hearn after acknowledging that flawed renovation work had caused the damage, as reported by Newsweek.

Newsweek contacted the White House via online form and the Interior Department via email Sunday for comment.

Hearn, a three-time U.S. Olympic canoeist, was indicted after federal authorities accused him of pulling up sections of the Reflecting Pool's newly installed blue liner during a visit to the National Mall in June. Prosecutors initially alleged that the damage exceeded $1,000, leading to a felony charge that carried a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years.

The Olympian had consistently denied intentionally damaging the memorial. He said he had stopped during a bike ride, noticed that parts of the liner were already peeling, and only handled a loose section without causing further damage. His attorneys argued that he had been wrongly held responsible for problems caused by the pool's recent renovation.

Trump announced in April that he wanted the Reflecting Pool resurfaced with a swimming-pool-style coating in what he called "American flag blue," describing the site as dirty and neglected, and promising a swift, dramatic overhaul.

By June 6, Trump had declared that the work on the pool was complete. However, within days the pool was facing a series of problems. By June 14, the water had turned green, with officials blaming residual algae in the supply lines and using hydrogen peroxide and ozone treatments in an effort to clear it. On June 18, a second issue became visible: the blue coating itself was peeling away from the pool floor.

The Trump administration awarded a $2.7 million contract to a Massachusetts company to try to fix the algae issue. Government spending data showed American Ag Energy, Inc., was given the contract to tackle the problem.

Trump later described a "250-foot gash" in the pool lining, as reported by Newsweek. He then referred to it as a "290- to 300-foot slit" and, on June 23, described it as a "350 ft slip in the form of lots of little slips," which he said had been made using a knife or similar tool.

In its latest post, the Interior Department accused the Times of ignoring evidence of vandalism at the Reflecting Pool, pointing to several incidents it said had occurred at the landmark.

The department said there had been 342 feet of razor-blade slashes to the pool, while "8647" had been spray-painted in large black letters across it. It also cited an account from the U.S. Attorney's Office alleging that a defendant knelt down, put both hands below the surface of the water and "violently" ripped and tugged at a large section of the blue pool coating.

The department also pointed to what it described as "8647" chemical burns on the grass near the Reflecting Pool.

The Reflecting Pool was completed in 1923 and has since become one of Washington, DC's most recognizable landmarks, stretching between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

09/13/2026 7:40 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.