NEED TO KNOW

• No-bid contract for Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool now $13.1 million, up from $1.8 million.
• Trump now denies knowing Atlantic Industrial Coatings; in April said he picked them personally.
• Same "urgency exemption" used twice in a month to bypass federal competitive bidding.

WASHINGTON, DC (TDR) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied knowing the contractor renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, blaming Interior for a no-bid contract that has climbed to $13.1 million. The reversal contradicts his April claim that he personally picked "a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools."

The big picture: The administration invoked an urgency exemption, typically reserved for situations causing "serious injury" to the government, to bypass competitive bidding ahead of the July 4 semiquincentennial.

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• The job went to Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a firm that had never held a federal contract
• Interior added $6.2 million to the existing $6.9 million award last Friday
• The Cultural Landscape Foundation is suing to halt the project under historic preservation law

Why it matters: Federal contracting law requires "full and open competition" to prevent exactly this: a hand-picked firm, a runaway price tag, shifting accountability.

• The $1.8 million estimate has grown sevenfold in six weeks
• The Interior addition reportedly includes a 20% profit margin
• Park Service documents suggest total costs could exceed $12 million on renovation tasks alone

Driving the news: Trump on April 23 told reporters he had a "guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools" who called him about the project. On Tuesday, he posted on Truth Social that he had nothing to do with the selection.

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• The contract was awarded April 3, three weeks before Trump's "pool guy" remarks
• Owner Curtis "Eddie" Wood declined to comment, saying he was "not at liberty to discuss" the deal
• The firm does not advertise swimming-pool expertise

What they're saying:

• Donald Trump, President — "I didn't give out the contract, 'Interior' did, to a contractor I did not know, and have never used before."
• Donald Trump, President (April 23) — "I have a guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools. He called me up. He said, 'Sir, we can do something on it.'"
• Adam Schiff, US Senator (D-CA) — "A no-bid contract for a favored pool contractor costing taxpayers millions more. Trump's art of the deal is, and always will be, a scam."

Yes, but: The Obama-era restoration cost taxpayers real money, and the pool still leaks 16 million gallons a year that the Park Service has paid to replace for over a decade.

• Previous administrations also failed on algae and joint-leak problems
• The critique of past federal spending is not, on its face, wrong
• Trump's $1.8 million counter-estimate collapsed under the same pressures he blamed predecessors for

Between the lines: This is the second time in a month the Park Service has used the "serious injury" urgency exemption to bypass competitive bidding on a Mall project tied to a Trump-adjacent firm. The first, per New York Times reporting, was a $17.4 million no-bid contract for Lafayette Park fountains awarded to the company building Trump's White House ballroom. When an exemption designed for emergencies becomes the default path for projects bound to a presidential calendar, competitive bidding ceases to exist for politically prioritized work.

What's next:

• The Cultural Landscape Foundation suit proceeds in federal court under historic preservation and environmental law
• Park Service still owes two additional repair tasks not covered by the current contract
• Interior Secretary Doug Burgum faces continued House questioning on the "serious injury" justification

If "urgency" can justify skipping competitive bidding for any project tied to a presidential deadline, what's left of the contracting law that's supposed to protect taxpayers from this?

Sources

This report was compiled using reporting from The New York Times via The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Hill, The Hill follow-up, The Washington Times, Washington Times original report, NewsNation, Raw Story, Benzinga, Factually.co, and MSNBC.

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