Trump promised the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation would cost $1.8 million. Federal records show the no-bid contract now tops nearly $15 million, the contractor had no prior federal contract history, and the pool’s faulty pipe system — the root of decades of algae and leaks — was left out of scope entirely. We trace every cost claim, examine the legal basis for bypassing competitive bidding, and assess what remains genuinely contested versus what the documents clearly establish.