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Trump Opens Restored Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Midterm-Eve Remarks

November 2, 2026 · The White House · 0:55:09

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What happened

President Donald Trump delivered remarks at the Lincoln Memorial on November 2, 2026, announcing what he called the official opening of the restored Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump said the pool, built in 1922 and described by him as the largest reflecting pool in the world, had suffered from leaks, algae and vandalism for generations, and he credited Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Interior Department staff with completing the work. He said the project resurfaced the pool’s bottom in a dark blue coating, installed about 330,000 square feet of coating and replaced nearly all of the pool’s joints and piping, according to his remarks.

Trump contrasted the restoration with earlier efforts, saying Presidents Obama and Biden together spent more than $144 million without completing the fix and that the pool at one point leaked about 40,000 gallons a day. He said his administration completed the job for a small fraction of that amount, opened the pool temporarily around the July 4th weekend for America’s 250th anniversary events, then closed it again to renovate the pipes. He also said his administration had fixed 83 statues and fountains across Washington and that crime in the capital was down close to 90 percent, as he stated it.

In the later portion of the remarks, delivered the day before Election Day, Trump turned to the midterms and the economy. He said personal incomes and American exports were at all-time highs, the poverty rate was at a record low, and more people were working than at any point in U.S. history, as he characterized the record. He cited $22.2 trillion being invested and $25 trillion in wealth created, said the United States and Venezuela together accounted for almost 50 percent of the world’s oil following what he called the conquest of Venezuela, and said a deal had also been worked out for Greenland. He urged his voters to turn out, warning against opponents he described in sharply critical terms.

Trump also discussed Iran, saying the United States had stopped Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon a year earlier with B-2 bomber strikes and had wiped out much of Iran’s military and leadership, and he said oil prices had dropped as a result. He closed by calling the period a golden age for America and thanking the crowd.

Why it matters

The remarks pair a completed, checkable Mall restoration project with the President’s closing midterm argument, making the speech both an infrastructure-delivery claim and the administration’s Election Day-eve case to voters.

Scoreboard watch

Trump pledged that if his side wins the election, every adult will get $5,000 that must be spent in the United States, and he put specific figures on the pool restoration (more than $144 million spent by prior administrations, about 40,000 gallons a day in leaks, 330,000 square feet of new coating) and on D.C. crime (down close to 90 percent). Those figures and the $5,000 pledge are stated here as the President stated them; no verdict is recorded on this page.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Delivers Remarks, Nov. 2, 2026”, 2026-11-02 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-11-02). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.