NEED TO KNOW
Donald Trump visited the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation site on Thursday, May 7
Trump criticized a reporter’s question about the project as he emphasized the importance of beauty and cleanliness in the capital
The renovation aims to replace the pool’s gray stone look with vibrant blue water
President Donald Trump is keeping a close eye on the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as the nation’s 250th birthday celebration fast approaches.
On Thursday, May 7, the official White House Instagram account shared several photos of Trump, 79, visiting the unfinished site. Among the snaps was the president meeting with workers on the project and his motorcade driving through the currently empty pool.
The White House described the renovation as part of efforts to “make D.C. beautiful again! 🇺🇸” in the caption of the post.
White House communications director Steven Cheung posted a video of the presidential motorcade on X, writing, “They see me rolling! President Trump rides in the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial!”
Renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on May 7
Credit: Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty
Trump’s surprise visit to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool lasted around 30 minutes, according to Reuters. While speaking to reporters at the site, he said the renovation would replace the pool’s “gray stone” appearance with the color of a blue swimming pool.
“It’s really beautiful, and it’s going to be fantastic,” said Trump, per the outlet. “It’s going to look better than it did in 1922 when it was built,” he added.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
During the press conference, ABC News reporter Rachel Scott asked Trump about his decision to renovate the monument amid the Iran war. He explained that “truckloads of filth” have been taken out of the water since the project began, while blasting her for asking a “stupid question.”
“That’s not what our country is about,” said Trump, per The Independent and DRM News. “Our country is about beauty, cleanliness, safety, great people. Not a filthy capital.”
“That’s such a stupid question that you asked,” he continued, per the outlets. “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 don’t allow it.”
President Donald Trump at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on May 7
Credit: Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty
The Lincoln Reflecting Pool — located between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument —was constructed in the early 1920s and previously closed for renovation in 2010, reopening two years later.
Less than a week before Trump’s latest visit, he shared an AI-generated image on Truth Social of himself floating in the pool alongside Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, as well as an unidentified woman in a bikini and sunglasses.
He didn’t caption the post, which showed them in very saturated water strikingly similar to another altered image he posted on May 1 to demonstrate the shade of “American flag blue” he intends to make the pool.
Sign up for From the Editor, our free weekly newsletter from PEOPLE’s Editor-in-Chief, Charlotte Triggs.
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Nov. 17, 2025
Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Trump also shared a side-by-side comparison of his idealized version of the pool alongside an image taken in September 2012 — during former President Barack Obama‘s first term in office. According to Politico, algae appeared in the largest of Washington, D.C.’s reflecting pools less than a month after it reopened following a $34 million renovation.
On April 9, Trump said he and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are “proud to be fixing” the “once beautiful” reflecting pool in a Truth Social post.
“We were told it was going to take YEARS to do this job, and it will take a fraction of that time, at a fraction of the cost,” he added. “And it will be much more beautiful than the day it was built!”
Read the original article on People