During a Friday appearance on CNN, The New York Times’ Lulu Garcia-Navarro hit President Donald Trump on his newly announced Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool renovations, asking, “Doesn’t President Trump have anything better to do?”

The conversation began with CNN’s David Urban discussing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who — despite a Friday announcement from U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro that her office was closing its investigation — still faces an ongoing probe by the inspector general’s office.

“Jerome Powell’s supposed to be helping run the economy,” said Urban. “You can’t supervise a building being renovated? Cost overruns were just ridiculous.”

“That is not uncommon in Washington writ large,” said CNN’s Kasie Hunt. “How much is the ballroom costing?”

“The government got a bid to redo the reflecting pool for, like, $3 billion — some ridiculous amount of money,” said Urban. “So, Trump went down with [Secretary of the Interior Doug] Burgum, and Trump’s pool contractor, and they’re recoating, they recaulk, they’re redoing the entire reflecting pool for like $2 million bucks, and it’s gonna last 40 years.”

“Doesn’t President Trump have anything better to do?” questioned Garcia-Navarro. “Oh, my lord.”

“He does! He’s a good steward of everyone’s dollars, Lulu,” said Urban.

On Friday evening, Trump posted a celebration of the new reflecting pool on Truth Social, writing:

“This is the Reflecting Pool at The Lincoln Memorial. Two thousand five hundred feet, the length of the tallest Building in the World. Starting the final phase of Renovation that was supposed to cost 301 Million Dollars, and take three years, and was instead done, with the help of Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and his entire Department, and a much better final result – 2 Million Dollars in one week! I do many such things for Government and, as President, it is my Honor to do so. This is just one of them. Another, and one far more exciting, is Most Favored Nations for Prescription Drugs, where the United States paid the highest price in the World, and now they are paying the lowest, with a drop of 50, 60, 70, and even 80%! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

Watch the clip above via CNN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!