Trump begins East Wing demolition for ballroom

What happened

Demolition crews Monday began ripping down the facade of the White House’s East Wing to build President Donald Trump’s $250 million ballroom.

The White House went ahead with the demolition “despite not yet having sign-off from the National Capital Planning Commission, which approves construction work to government buildings in the Washington area,” The Associated Press said. Trump had pledged in July that the ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building” and will “be near it but not touching it.”

Who said what

Trump’s promise not to “interfere” with the White House structure “always seemed unrealistic given how big the plans were,” The New York Times said. The proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom would be “nearly double the size of the existing structure,” and the East Wing was “one of the last pieces of the White House complex he hadn’t yet started to make over in his own image.”

“Democrats panned the project,” The Washington Post said. “Seeing the White House torn apart is really emblematic of the times we’re in,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said on social media. The funding of the project, from wealthy private donors and companies feted by Trump at a White House dinner last week, has also fueled ethical concerns about access-buying.

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What next?

The Treasury Department, headquartered next door to the East Wing, “instructed employees not to share photos of the demolition” from their “front-row seat” after Monday’s images “went viral,” The Wall Street Journal said. The White House said construction should be completed “before Trump’s second term wraps in 2029,” The Hill said.