A nonprofit group trying to stop President Trump's reflecting pool renovation on the National Mall claims the project breaks federal law.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation filed a lawsuit today, saying the National Park Service violated an Historic Preservation Act by repainting the pool, quote, American flag blue.

The complaint says the new color, quote, will fundamentally alter the visual and experiential character of the pool.

The president announced the project last month and drove through the pool's construction site just last week.

The New York Times is also reporting that its initial cost of less than $2 million has now ballooned to seven times that figure.

For more on the project, I'm joined now by one of the reporters covering that story.

That's David Farenthold of the New York Times.

David, welcome back.

Let's begin with your reporting on this that shows that initial cost estimate from the president

of $1.8 million, now up to $13.1 million. What happened there?

Well, the President Trump has said multiple times that this project is only going to cost $1.8 million

or less than $2 million. That's never been right. From the beginning, the federal government had

expected to pay $6.9 million for this contract. And then on

Friday, that cost jumped again by another 88 percent. So now we're talking about $13.1 million.

And the contractor for this project, your reporting also showed had no previous federal contracts.

How unusual is that for a renovation like this? It's quite unusual for a renovation of this size and this sort of importance.

Remember, this is not a swimming pool.

This is a pool that's about 2,000 feet long.

It's been around since 1920s.

It has a lot of complicated problems that come from both its age and its size.

And the contractor they chose to do it, not only is this their first federal contract, but it's not clear this is a swimming pool contractor at all.

Their website is more about lining pipes and culverts and fuel tanks.

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