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Legal Af
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Trump STUNNED as Lawsuit Moves to STOP Reflection Pool SCAM!!

Posted

May 16, 2026

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Attorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian cover Trump's latest vanity project gone sideways. After driving his presidential motorcade through the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to survey his "beautification" project, Trump announced it would be coated in "American flag blue" and cost $1.8 million in one week. Federal contract records tell a different story: the no-bid contract started at $6.9 million, has ballooned to nearly $15 million, and the project is nowhere near done. The Cultural Landscape Foundation sued in D.C. federal court to halt the work, arguing the Interior Department violated the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by skipping the legally required public consultation and environmental review. The foundation's CEO called the Reflecting Pool's original gray design "fundamental to the solemn and hallowed visual and spatial connection between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial." Brian and Shant explain why the no-bid contract is a problem on its own: federal projects are supposed to go through competitive bidding to protect taxpayers. They connect this to Trump's broader campaign to remake D.C. in his image, alongside the White House ballroom, the Triumphal Arch, and the Kennedy Center renovations. The pool's design was deliberately understated by its original architects to create an egalitarian, democratic public space. Trump wants it to look like a resort amenity.

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Guests & Subjects Covered

Attorneys Brian KabateckShant KarnikianLincoln Memorial Reflecting PoolThe Cultural Landscape FoundationInterior DepartmentNational Historic Preservation ActNational Environmental Policy ActReflecting Pool's

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