In the months since President Trump vowed to restore the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, the century-old landmark has been plagued with problems, from bright green algae to peeling paint.

The saga began when the administration awarded no-bid contracts for the multimillion dollar project in an effort to complete renovations by the country’s 250th birthday celebrations on July 4. When problems surfaced, President Trump and his administration — without evidence — blamed “vandals,” accusing individuals of slashing the pool with a knife or razors “in the dead of night” and dumping fertilizer into the shallow water to promote algae growth.

Federal prosecutors charged at least four people with damaging the pool, including a former Olympian who faced a felony charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Then, in a stunning reversal, prosecutors dismissed that charge and said the damage was the result of a “botched” installation by federal contractors.

The pool remains empty. Here is how we got here.

April 3: Trump awards first no-bid contract to renovate the pool.

On April 3, a Virginia firm called Atlantic Industrial Coatings was hired to repair leaking joints between the pool’s concrete slabs, waterproof the pool’s bottom and paint it a color that Mr. Trump called “American flag blue.” The firm was awarded a no-bid contract, bypassing the requirement to seek competing offers through a mechanism that contracting experts called highly unusual and typically reserved for desperate cases where work must start immediately to protect lives.

Mr. Trump at first said he chose the firm, which had never previously held a federal contract, because it had repaired a pool at one of his golf clubs. He later reversed himself and said he did not know the firm. The company added a 20 percent profit margin to the its bill, which has totaled $14.7 million so far.