W orkers on the National Mall, desperate to turn the Reflecting Pool to President Trump’s preferred shade of blue, poured jug after jug of hydrogen peroxide into the water yeste

The algae-infested water in the refilled Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is even more disgusting than its green color suggests. During an episode of The Issue Is, CNN’s Washington correspondent Sunlen Serfaty took a sample from the pool that President Donald Trump ordered be repainted and refilled as part of the America250 celebrations and sent it off for testing.

The site has been a backdrop for and active part of major political events, as well as everyday life for the country's capital.

Workers completed a Trump administration directive to paint the floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool "American flag blue" in early June 2026.

The Lincoln Memorial is turning heads in Washington as crews add hydrogen peroxide to the Reflecting Pool to kill a massive algae bloom that has discolored the water.