Trump awarded a $6.9 million no-bid contract to a contractor he described as his 'pool guy' to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool blue, using an 'urgent' exemption to bypass competitive bidding. Multiple sources including NYT and Guardian confirm the contract and exemption, though reporting also notes the contractor's website shows no actual pool expertise. The story illustrates how emergency procurement powers can bypass normal oversight — and raises questions about whether a cosmetic pool repainting qualifies as genuinely urgent work.