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white House Demolition of parts of the east wing has begun to make way for Construction of President Donald Trump’s planned $250 million ballroom.
Demolition team started demolition on Monday Work on dismantling the East Wing facade facing treasury departmentPart of the building that housed the White House Calligraphy Office and the entrance that has long been used by visitors coming for special events or tours.
Trump confirmed the demolition work during an event with Louisiana State University and its NCAA and NAIA baseball championship teams from its’ Shreveport, Louisiana satellite campus.
He said new ballroom It would be “a lot of fun” and noted that Construction “Started today.”
He said, “You know, we’re building right behind us. We’re building a ballroom. They’ve wanted a ballroom for 150 years and I’m giving that respect to this wonderful place.”
The President suggested that the new ballroom be connected to the main White House residence, using what he described as a “knockout panel” in the East Room.
The East Wing, built in 1902 and given a second floor in 1942 under then-President Franklin Roosevelt, traditionally houses the office of the First Lady and other parts of the White House, including the White House Travel Office and the White House Military Office.
It also sits on top of the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a World War II-era bomb shelter built for Roosevelt that was used by then-Vice President Dick Cheney during the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
The demolition of the decades-old structure, which is the newest building on the 18-acre White House complex, appears to violate President Trump’s pledge that the vast new events venue he is building would not “interfere” with existing buildings.
But White House officials have also separately suggested that the new ballroom would replace the East Wing and have justified the move by saying that it has been “renovated and altered several times,” including a 1942 renovation that added a second floor and a bomb shelter to the building.
Last week, the president told donors at a fundraising dinner for the ballroom that the project was fully funded, with donations from a number of companies including Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, and Coinbase.
He said the new ballroom would seat 650 people – more than three times the capacity of the East Room.
News of the demolition work was met with scorn from some liberal commentators.
One such pundit, legal writer Marcy Wheeler, compared the destruction of part of the East Wing to the damage done by British troops under the command of Major General Robert Ross, who ordered the burning of both the White House residence and the Capitol during the War of 1812.
“First Trump’s mob attacked the Capitol for the first time since 1812. And now Trump is doing more damage to the White House than the British did in 1814,” he said.
Former CNN anchor Jim Acosta also objected, writing, “So any president can start destroying parts of the White House? Is that how it works?”
While new construction of federal buildings must be scrutinized by the National Capital Planning Commission board, the head of that panel, appointed by Trump, said in September that demolition work is outside the board’s jurisdiction and can proceed without the need for approval.
Will Scharf, who also serves as White House staff secretary, said during an NCPC meeting last month that the board lacks authority over demolition or site preparation efforts.
“What we deal with is essentially manufacturing, vertical manufacturing,” he said.