Foundation files lawsuit against Trump's remodeling of Lincoln Memorial

President Donald Trump's project to paint the reflecting pool next to the Lincoln Memorial bright blue has become his latest redevelopment effort in the capital that has resulted in a lawsuit.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a lawsuit Monday against the Interior Department and the National Park Service to stop the repainting of the pool at the National Mall.

The 2,000-foot-long (610 meters) reflecting pool was built between 1922 and 1923 and is a Washington landmark.

Trump is having it refinished and repainted "American flag blue" to commemorate the 250th anniversary, this summer, of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Work on the Reflecting Pond project, which the billionaire real estate mogul personally inspected last week, has already begun, and the lawsuit filed by the foundation seeks to have it stopped.

In its suit, the nonprofit said the dark color of the pool's basin "creates the sweeping mirror image of the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument that millions of visitors experience every year."

"The dark grey, achromatic basin was not incidental to the design," it says. "It was the design."

The foundation accuses the administration of "altering the historic character of the Reflecting Pool without following Congressionally mandatory procedures."

According to the statement, the proposal is part of a pattern of remodeling projects undertaken by Trump, including the destruction of the East Wing of the White House to make way for a massive ballroom.