Trump brought on the manager of his New Jersey golf club to advise on a major Lincoln Memorial project despite having no engineering background, according to reporting by The New York Times.
David Schutzenhofer has run the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster for 20 years, and he's been playing a "major role" in the Reflecting Pool renovations, The New York Times reported. He's "a private citizen with no known training for engineering or architecture," the newspaper added.
He was key in recruiting Greenwater Services to take on a $1.7 million no-bid contract to put a permanent purification system in the landmark, the Times reported
"Mr. Trump previously took credit for picking one of the contractors repairing the Reflecting Pool, saying the company had worked on the swimming pool at his golf club in Sterling, Va.," according to the report. "The president later reversed himself, saying he did not know the firm."
The Times also noted that if Schutzenhofer had been a government employee, "he would have been required to take ethics training and pledge to avoid conflicts of interest."
According to the report, Schutzenhofer declined to comment, and the Interior Department didn't go into detail about "Mr. Schutzenhofer's involvement in the project." However, an Interior Department spokesperson defended his involvement.
"Mr. Schutzenhofer is unpaid and is volunteering his time to offer suggestions on this project because he is an American patriot," Interior Department spokesperson Katie Martin told the Times.