On April 13, the United States Department of the Interior awarded a $1.7 million contract to Ohio-based company Green Water Solutions. The “JJ Cadaro Investment Trust” owns that company, and its CEO and president is John J. Cafaro.
Ostensibly, this company was contracted to remove algae in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, an issue that has plagued it for years. Green Water Solutions claims to utilize “nano bubbles” to purify water of algae and other contaminants. To bypass the bidding process, the Trump administration claimed that the July 4 deadline for the restoration of the pool made the contract “urgent.”
The contract represents yet another conflict of interest involving the Reflecting Pool. Although Cafaro stated that Trump is unaware of his company’s work on the pool, with White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers making a similar argument, this is unlikely. Cafaro donated to Republicans and Trump himself, donating $250,000 to the Trump Victory fund in 2020. He also lives less than a mile away from Mar-a-Lago, indicating that he enjoys more access to Trump than another potential contractor would. Furthermore, Cafaro’s company also did work for the Trump Organization’s Bedminster, New Jersey property.
Cafaro also has a criminal background, pleading guilty to campaign finance violations in 2010 because he had donated to his daughter’s campaign for Congress. He had also attempted to bribe Representative James Traficant, which he had also pleaded guilty for.
This is yet another instance of Trump utilizing architectural and renovation projects to not only soothe his own ego by establishing what he believes to be a legacy, but to also give patronage to loyal political allies with taxpayer money.
