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Trump Threatens ABC News Over Coverage of Costly Reflecting Pool Project

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23.06.2026

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President Donald Trump issued a threat to ABC News in a Truth Social post Monday evening, complaining about the news organization’s coverage of the algae growth that has occurred after recent renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Earlier this year, Trump gave a no-bid contract to a company to clean the pool, after which the bottom was painted blue to increase its reflectivity. Despite initial claims that the project would only cost taxpayers $1.8 million, the total cost of the project has ballooned to nearly 10 times that amount, currently around $16 million.

As the summer heat appeared to result in new, widespread algae growth in the pool, workers began filling the water with hydrogen peroxide. That move appears to have caused parts of the blue paint to come off the bottom, with pieces visibly floating to the surface.

In his Monday night missive, Trump whined that ABC News, which had reported on the situation in a two-minute segment that evening, “failed to report that their close ‘friends,’ Dumocrats Obama and Biden, spent over 100 Million Dollars on the Reflecting Pool, and it never worked.”

Trump also said that his project “came out great,” blaming “vandalism” for the pool’s current problems. The president has provided no evidence for his claims.

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“We are preparing lawsuits against ABC for false reporting,” Trump added in his post.

Trump then alluded to previous attempts to sue the company that resulted in a $15 million settlement, and suggested that the new lawsuit could be sent to the U.S. Treasury. Notably, the settlement he referred to was given to the future Trump Library, not to the Treasury Department.

In a separate post,........

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