Trump Says He'll Renovate 'filthy' Reflecting Pool On National Mall

President Donald Trump touted plans Thursday to overgarment nan Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool successful an "American emblem blue" hue, 1 of nan president's latest building efforts to refashion authorities buildings and monuments successful Washington, D.C.

Trump said he was inspired to oversee renovations aft a friend visited from Germany and noted its decay.

"He said, 'it's filthy, dirty. The h2o is disgusting looking. It's not typical of nan country,'" Trump recalled during a White House arena Thursday connected supplier prices.

Trump posted a video speaking astir nan renewal of nan complete 2,000-foot-long excavation on Truth Social, soon earlier his White House arena pinch reporters.

Trump said nan renewal will return 2 weeks and costs $1.5 million.Will Oliver / EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"Right now, it's sewage nary h2o successful it because it was successful unspeakable shape. It was filthy, dirty, and it leaked for illustration a sieve for galore years," Trump said successful nan video. "So I really went over, went pinch Secret Service and a group of people, and I took, took a look astatine it."

The president said location were first plans to region nan granite successful nan excavation and switch nan stone, but that process would person costs $300 cardinal and taken much than 3 years to complete.

Instead, Trump said he contacted his ain backstage contractors to cleanable nan chromatic and past overgarment it successful a caller color, which he described arsenic "American emblem blue."

"We scrubbed nan aboveground of nan existing granite that's been location since 1922. We past grouted each of nan granite, fixed it up," Trump said successful nan video. "It took astir 2 weeks, and now we person a nice, cleanable aboveground connected which we're putting an business people swimming excavation topping."

Trump said nan task is expected to costs betwixt $1.5 and 2 cardinal dollars and will beryllium completed "long earlier July 4" for nan country's 250th celebration.

"In different mates of weeks, we're going to person nan astir beautiful reflective excavation betwixt nan Washington Monument and nan Lincoln Memorial that you've ever seen," Trump said astatine nan White House.

Trump has pledged to overhaul nan excavation successful nan past. The president said successful a station connected Truth Social past period that he and Secretary of nan Interior Doug Burgum were "working connected fixing nan perfectly filthy Reflecting Pool betwixt nan Lincoln Memorial and nan Washington Monument."

The pool, nan tract of humanities events specified arsenic Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I person a dream" speech, had its last awesome renewal successful 2012 in a $34 cardinal task that lasted almost 2 years.

Trump's efforts to revamp nan reflecting excavation travel alongside a number of different building projects spearheaded by nan president crossed Washington, D.C., including his plans to build a $400 cardinal ballroom and subject bunker successful nan East Wing of nan White House and a awesome renewal of Kennedy Center.