President Donald Trump Wednesday acknowledged that the White House’s East Wing would be completely demolished to build his ballroom, despite his earlier pledge that the project “won’t interfere with the current building.” He also said the cavernous ballroom would cost $300 million, up from the original estimate of $200 million, and would be financed “100% by me and some friends of mine,” though “the military is very much involved” as well.
Who said what
“In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure,” Trump said. The East Wing, built in 1902 and expanded in 1942, primarily housed the first lady’s office. “It was a very small building” and “was never thought of as being much,” Trump said. But the unannounced “demolition of part of one of the most historic buildings in the United States has sparked an angry outcry,” Reuters said.
“It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” Hillary Clinton said on social media. The National Trust for Historic Preservation had asked Trump to pause demolition until plans for the ballroom were properly reviewed, saying the 90,000-square-foot structure would “overwhelm” the 55,000-square-foot White House. Trump “needs to tell the public now what he is doing with the East Wing,” conservative commentator Byron York said, and “why he didn’t tell them before he started doing it.” The White House dismissed the criticism as “manufactured outrage.”
What next?
The “process of tearing down the East Wing was expected to be completed as soon as this weekend,” The New York Times said.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
