Trump’s $13 million Reflecting Pool renovation sparks controversy at CNN panel

The multibillion-dollar price tag attached to President Donald Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool made waves Saturday on CNN’s “Table for Five” as panelists debated whether the project is a worthy investment in the nation’s capital or a sign of misplaced priorities.

Host Abby Phillips questioned the cost of the $13 million spent so far on the Reflecting Pool renovation, as well as other DC renovations, including the renovation of the White House’s East Wing and the re-enforcement of statues around the Lincoln Memorial.

“Is it just money for the president right now? We just got the DOGE, when they fired, you know, a bunch of federal employees saying every penny counts, and now there’s nothing?”

New York Post columnist Lydia Moynihan dismissed it, citing the importance of making Washington safer and more beautiful and comparing Trump’s aesthetic redesign of the lake to former President Barack Obama’s $35 million redevelopment effort.

“These are pennies when you consider that the Democrats are proposing to spend billions of dollars [on],” he said.

“There are things we do every day, we find fraud, Trump Rx… There are all kinds of good policies like the ones he’s implementing, and we’re not talking about them on this show.”

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Workers continue to apply protective blue at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington on May 30, 2026. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)

At that time, the panel had started an argument, the guests were talking to each other. Journalist Touré pointed to Trump’s statement that the federal government can’t afford childcare, high gas costs and the rising cost of the war with Iran.

“Why would we do those things when we are at war, with a sinking economy?” he asked.

“If you don’t see that one is a billion and the other is 13 million … So we have to let everything go to hell?” Moynihan replied. “I mean, shouldn’t we fix our roads because it costs a lot of money?”

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Touré denied that it was “obviously not the other side of that dichotomy” before Phillips regained control of the table, saying it comes down to priorities and that the American people are wondering who and what Trump is prioritizing.

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“At the end of the day, it’s the 250th year of the U.S. It’s good that we prioritize making DC safe, healthy, attractive,” said former Michigan attorney Peter Meijer.

“It’s too bad we have a hole where the East Wing was, isn’t it?” answered reporter John Avlon.