White House Rose Garden, South Lawn under repair following damages sustained during RNC

(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

last updated 9 September 2020

Crews have been hard at work at the White House to replace sod on the South Lawn and in the Rose Garden that was damaged during the Republican National Convention last month.

President Trump's re-election campaign is paying for the repairs, The Washington Post reports, and White House spokesman Judd Deere confirmed the "sod is being replaced at no cost to taxpayers. Additionally, there has been other planned infrastructure work taking place on the south grounds."

On Aug. 25, first lady Melania Trump spoke before a crowd of supporters in the Rose Garden, and a White House official told the Post that crews tried to protect the grass by placing turf on top of it. Two nights later, the president formally accepted the GOP nomination from a massive stage on the South Lawn, in front of 1,500 seated supporters. The area was also filled with giant television screens and large spotlights, all brought in on heavy equipment.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox