🚨 BREAKING: Trump awarded a no-bid federal contract to a company that worked on the swimming pool at one of his golf clubs. The project: painting the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue. The original cost: $1.8 million. The current cost: $13.1 million and rising. The contractor is Atlantic Industrial Coatings, they have never held a federal contract before. Trump’s National Park Service invoked an “unusual and compelling urgency” exception to bypass competitive bidding, citing the July 4 anniversary. Trump said it himself in the Oval Office: “I have some really good pool builders.” The Interior Department added $6.2 million to the contract; including a 20 percent profit margin for the contractor. A union safety leader told The Guardian the rushed timeline is exposing workers to “hazardous” chemicals. This is not the only one. The same administration awarded a separate no-bid contract for the Lafayette Park fountains. The Biden estimate in 2022 was $3.3 million. Trump’s no-bid version: $17.4 million.