A $1.7 million no-bid federal contract to install a "Nano Bubble" water-cleaning system at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool went to an Ohio company owned by a longtime Trump donor with a federal bribery conviction, CBS News reported Saturday, citing federal contracting records. The award, which the Interior Department justified under a contracting rule for "unusual and compelling urgency" tied to the July 4 anniversary of independence, sits at the center of a week in which President Donald Trump's signature pre-anniversary restoration project has visibly failed.
The pool's newly installed "American Flag Blue" sealant, a color Trump handpicked, began peeling within days of being filled. A sheen of algae returned to the water. Trump blamed vandals — and announced Saturday from Camp David that the U.S. Park Police "have arrested multiple individuals for vandalizing our Nations magnificent Reflecting Poll," correcting the spelling later. He offered no evidence to substantiate the broader claim.
The contractor
The Nano Bubble contract went to Green Water Solutions, also known as Greenwater Services, whose ownership is recorded on federal documents as the "JJ Cafaro Investment Trust." CBS News, working from FEC and federal contracting filings and following on reporting by The New York Times, identified the trust's principal as John J. Cafaro, a Youngstown, Ohio businessman and real estate developer who has donated extensively to Trump campaigns and Trump-linked groups — including a $250,000 contribution to the Trump Victory fundraising committee in 2020. Cafaro pleaded guilty in 2010 to campaign finance violations involving donations to his daughter's congressional campaign. Nearly a decade earlier, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Democratic Rep. James Traficant and cooperated with prosecutors. Cafaro and his wife own a Palm Beach home less than a mile from Mar-a-Lago, CBS News reported.
The Department of the Interior hired Green Water Solutions in April. The agency cited a federal contracting rule designed for "unusual and compelling urgency" to bypass full competitive bidding, citing the need to ready the pool for "the nation's 250th birthday on July 4" and calling the Nano Bubble system a "highly specialized and niche technology with limited domestic suppliers." A separate $14.7 million no-bid contract for the sealant work itself went to Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, federal records show.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told CBS News: "This contract was awarded by the Department of Interior; the White House did not play any role in the selection process." Cafaro told The Vindicator, a Youngstown newspaper, that Trump "doesn't know a thing about" the work and that "the system is working" against the algae. "I have no idea why this is an issue," he said.
The arrest
Among those Park Police detained Friday was David Hearn, 67, a three-time U.S. Olympic canoeist from Bethesda, Maryland. Hearn told The Associated Press he had stopped at the pool during a 64-mile bike ride to examine the peeling new coating, briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side, and let go after a park worker told him to. "I'm a curious citizen," Hearn told the AP. "I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery." He said he was detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released Friday night. The Washington Post first reported his arrest. Fox News, in a Saturday profile, noted Hearn was an Olympic torch bearer at the 1996 Atlanta Games and the C-1 world champion in 1985 and 1995.
Trump cast the arrests as serious crimes. "Who would do such a thing?" he posted Saturday. "These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail!" He also tied the pool's troubles to the "86 47" message etched into the National Mall's lawn the week before — a number authorities are investigating as a possible threat to the 47th president.
Counterpoint
Trump's allies argue the contract is unremarkable. The Washington Examiner, in a Saturday review of administration contracting decisions, cast the no-bid award as a routine use of an urgency waiver and emphasized Cafaro's claim that "people who don't seem to like Trump" are driving the attention. The administration's defenders also note that Green Water Solutions has performed water work elsewhere, including at Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey golf club and on a $1 million 2025 feasibility study for the Tijuana River sewage system. Critics counter that even if every step was legal, the optics — handpicked color, urgency-clause carve-out, donor recipient, blamed vandals — are exactly the chain of contracting choices that draw scrutiny.
Hearn's court date is next month. The pool's anniversary deadline is July 4.