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By Alice Gibbs
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A group suing the Trump administration over renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has accused federal officials of taking steps that could destroy evidence at the center of an ongoing legal dispute over damage to the landmark.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), one of the plaintiffs challenging the project, asked a federal judge this week to allow experts access to the Reflecting Pool to assess its condition before additional work is carried out. The group argues that National Park Service plans to perform further repairs could alter or eliminate evidence relevant to determining what caused problems with the newly resurfaced pool.
In a filing submitted on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, attorneys for the organization wrote that federal officials have made repeated claims about the cause of damage to the pool while also preparing to change conditions at the site.
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"Defendants also have undertaken to destroy some of the very evidence that could shed light on the veracity of Defendants' claims," the filing states. The attorneys pointed to a declaration from a National Park Service official indicating that additional work was planned at the Reflecting Pool.
The dispute stems from a broader lawsuit over changes made to the iconic National Mall landmark during a renovation project overseen by the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service.
According to court filings, government officials previously reported damage to the Reflecting Pool, including foam sealant and surface materials that they said had been cut with a "sharp knife or razor." TCLF argues it should be allowed to document the current condition of the pool before any further alterations are made.
Newsweek reached out to the Department of the Interior via email for comment.
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Questions Raised Over Cause of Damage
The filing cites a separate court case in which the Department of Justice recently challenged earlier explanations for damage discovered at the Reflecting Pool following the Trump administration's renovation project.
Alexander Kristofcak, from the Washington Litigation Group representing TCLF, told Newsweek: “On Tuesday, August 4 Judge Nichols denied TCLF’s request to inspect the pool and gather evidence before additional repairs are undertaken. TCLF continues to believe that this ‘botched installation,’ as United States Attorney Jeanine Pirro characterized it, was due to rushed and poor planning, which highlights the need to consult experts—something that would have happened if the government had followed the law. This is what our lawsuit is about—getting the government to follow the ordinary review processes under the law.”
The damage is central to an ongoing lawsuit brought by the Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), which originally sued the Department of the Interior in May, alleging that work on the Reflecting Pool violated federal historic preservation laws. TCLF argued that replacing the basin with a blue-colored synthetic liner altered a defining historic feature of the nearly century-old landmark without the reviews required under the National Historic Preservation Act and other federal laws. According to the organization, the Reflecting Pool's dark gray basin has been a key design element since it opened in 1923.
After the renovation was completed, problems emerged with the newly installed liner, from rapid algae growth to peeling of the pool’s new “American Blue” coating. Federal officials initially pointed to what they described as vandalism, telling the court that National Park Service personnel observed damage to the newly installed lining, including foam sealant and surface materials that had allegedly been cut with a "sharp knife or razor." Those claims became a key part of the government's explanation for why the pool developed visible defects soon after construction was completed.
"They took razor blades and knives and they cut patches like 350ft long. They came in and they cut it. And then they grabbed it and they pulled it up. That's why it's all ripped," President Donald Trump said in June.
In a June 24 court filing, National Park Service Deputy Director Frank Lands stated: "On June 9, 2026, after the rehabilitation project was substantially complete, the U.S. Park Police responded to an NPS report of damage to the reflecting pool, including a caulk over the foam sealant that was cut with a sharp knife or razor and destruction of delaminating surface material. In addition, approximately 70 fence post tops were thrown into the pool."
Last week, charges were dropped against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn who was arrested on June 19 and faced one felony count of property destruction over the Reflecting Pool vandalism. Hearn denied all charges against him, and on Friday, Trump’s Justice Department moved to dismiss the charge against Hearn, saying in a filing that the damage to the pool liner was “the result of flawed installation by the contractor” who worked on it.
What The Plaintiffs Want
New evidence of DOJ lawyers citing construction failures is key to the Cultural Landscape Foundation's latest filing, which quotes DOJ lawyers as saying a "rushed and botched installation" was responsible for the problems and that the "most likely explanation" for the damage was faulty installation rather than intentional acts of vandalism.
The group's attorneys argue those findings undermine previous representations made by Interior Department officials and raise new questions about what happened during the renovation. They also pointed to a DOJ court filing accusing Interior Department components of providing "less than fulsome information" about the resurfacing project and the issues that followed.
For the plaintiffs, that dispute over the cause of the damage is exactly why they say an independent inspection should take place before additional repairs proceed. If work continues, they argue, physical evidence that could help determine whether the problems resulted from vandalism or construction errors could be altered or lost.
"Subsequent developments strongly suggest that some of Defendants' assertions to date about the state of the Pool are false," the filing states.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and Emma Lee-Sang
Update 08/06/26, 09:45 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from the Washington Litigation Group.
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