The Trump administration plans to demolish the entire East Wing of the White House “within days,” dramatically expanding President Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom project and triggering backlash from preservationists and lawmakers.
The move, first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by two administration officials, marks a major shift from what Trump had described this summer as a nearby, nonintrusive addition.
“It won’t interfere with the current building,” Trump said July 31. “It’ll be near it, but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”
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Instead, officials now say the East Wing — constructed in 1942 under Franklin D. Roosevelt and traditionally used by first ladies and their staff — will be fully “modernized and rebuilt.”
“The scope and size of the ballroom project have always been subject to vary as the process develops,” a White House official told NBC News.
Trump has said the new ballroom will hold up to 900 people and cost roughly $300 million — up from his earlier estimate of $250 million — to be funded by him and private donors.
A White House spokesperson said historic materials, including elements from Rosalynn Carter’s original Office of the First Lady, have been preserved and stored “under the supervision of the White House Executive Residence and the National Park Service.”
Still, preservationists are urging the administration to halt the demolition. The National Trust for Historic Preservation warned that the new ballroom “will overwhelm the White House itself.”
“We respectfully urge the Administration and the National Park Service to pause demolition until plans go through the legally required public review processes,” said Carol Quillen, the trust’s CEO.
The White House argues it isn’t obligated to submit the plans to review boards because only demolition, not construction, has begun.
Normally, major White House renovations would go through the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, the National Capital Planning Commission and the D.C. State Historic Preservation Office. But a source familiar with the process said the White House is “ultimately exempt” from those agencies’ binding authority.
Trump, working alongside McCrery Architects, is personally overseeing the design. The Trust for the National Mall is managing private donations for the project, including a $22 million contribution from Alphabet — YouTube’s parent company — as part of a legal settlement. Comcast Corp., parent company of NBCUniversal, is also listed among the top donors.
Construction crews were seen tearing down parts of the East Wing facade this week, drawing criticism from Democrats, historians and even some Republicans.
The White House called the outrage “manufactured” and accused “unhinged leftists and their Fake News allies” of opposing what it described as a “visionary addition.”
“For more than a century, U.S. presidents have been renovating, expanding and modernizing the White House to meet the needs of the present day,” a news release stated, calling Trump’s ballroom “a bold, necessary addition that echoes the storied history of presidential improvements.”
