President Donald Trump’s Reflecting Pool project was shot down by an experienced company before he awarded the job to his own former pool guys, according to an exclusive new CNN report.

The Reflecting Pool saga has only gotten deeper since Trump began trying to shift blame for the condition of the monument after weeks of bragging about it. Law enforcement and military personnel have been brought in, people have been arrested, ducks have died, and Trump still has produced no evidence for his claim that the renovation was attacked with a knife.

But it all began with a conversation with his “pool guy,” as Trump tells it:

And I said, my pool guy, I said, take a look at it. And he said, well, sir, we can do it. We’ll get industrial strength. And I use some guys, not him. I use some guys, but he gave me some good ideas because he’s a pro. You know, they got very upset when I sent my pool person. I said, who else am I going to send? So I sent him over and we sprayed it and put down beautiful, like a pool coating. It’ll last maybe 50 to 100 years.

The CNN reporting team of Abigail Roederhsheimer, Isabelle Khurshudyan, and Sunlen Serfaty dropped a new scoop on the project Thursday morning — Trump’s pool guys weren’t the first to be offered the project:

Several months before blue strips started floating to the surface of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a company involved in its last renovation more than 15 years ago was approached with an opportunity to do this remodel as well. But the company said no.

Specifically, it balked at two requirements – the Trump administration wanted it done by July 4, and the pool bottom had to be blue, according to two employees with the New Jersey-based Sika Corporation, which provided the concrete construction and sealing products for a 2010 renovation project to the Reflecting Pool.

According to the two employees, who spoke to CNN on the condition they not be identified, both demands made the job “unfeasible.”

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, host Anderson Cooper broke down the report for viewers:

COOPER: CNN has exclusive new reporting on the more than $14 million no-bid contract renovation to the D.C. Reflecting Pool, which has now been fenced off. A company that worked on the pool more than 15 years ago was apparently approached about the current remodel, but refused the job, partly because of the rush to have it completed by July 4th, and partly because the Trump administration wanted the bottom of the pool to be blue.

The project is a priority, obviously, for President Trump, but since the repairs, green algae returned to the pool and pieces of the American flag blue lining have been seen peeling off. The pool is expected to be drained and repaired again after July 4th celebrations.

Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.

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