President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak Monday at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as he makes his closing argument before the midterm elections. The landmark has become closely associated with the troubled renovation of the site during his second administration.
The pool has been closed and surrounded by fencing since July, after an earlier repair effort failed. A newly applied blue waterproof coating peeled away, while algae caused the water to turn bright green.
Contractors have since applied another waterproofing layer and flushed the pool’s filtration system. Recent photographs showed the basin gradually filling with water ahead of Trump’s planned appearance at 2 p.m. Eastern.
While campaigning for Republican candidates in Iowa on Sunday, Trump said he wanted to return to the pool to demonstrate “how beautiful it is” and declared that the work was finished.
Trump also repeated his claim that vandals were responsible for the pool’s problems. Federal prosecutors and the contractors involved in the repairs, however, identified flaws in the repair work as the primary issue. Trump said cameras had been installed around the site to monitor for vandals.
Sources: The New York Times Politics.