00:02In Washington, the reflecting pool repair job that was supposed to clean up a national landmark
00:08has become a political fight over cost, damage, and now who gets paid to fix it?
00:14Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says the Trump administration will not seek new bids to repair
00:20the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Burgum said Sunday the administration will stay with
00:25the same contractor, saying the company did a fantastic job. Workers drained the pool this
00:30past spring as part of a project to prepare the site for the nation's 250th anniversary celebration.
00:36But after the work was done, an algae bloom spread in the water, turning it green, and
00:42pieces of the new coating appeared to peel off the bottom in large chunks.
00:46Well, it's fixed in the sense it's no longer leaking 45,000 gallons a day, and we've got
00:51less than one-tenth of one percent of that industrial liner that's been damaged, and
00:56that's the only thing that remains to go back and fix the damage done by the vandals.
01:01How much more is this going to cost?
01:05I think it's going to be a small number because the majority of the work was related to the
01:11labor and the materials for the liner, and of course the new nanobubbler system, which
01:15is taken care of and won the battle against the algae.
01:19Burgum said the pool will have to be at least partially drained this week to finish the
01:24repairs. Authorities have arrested more than a half dozen people in connection with damage
01:29at the reflecting pool. As the White House insists, there's been lots of vandalism. That
01:33includes former Olympian David Hearn, who was indicted last week on a felony property destruction
01:39charge. Hearn's lawyers called the charges outrageous. The project is also facing scrutiny
01:44from Democratic lawmakers. The renovations have cost more than $16 million, and lawmakers
01:50are now investigating the no-bid contracts behind the work.
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