Trump admits Melania doesn’t like the sound of construction at the White House but ‘it makes me happy’
President Donald Trump adores the sound of the ongoing renovations at the White House, but the same cannot be said for first lady Melania Trump, the president told reporters on Friday.
“It makes me happy,” he said of hearing the project take shape. “My wife doesn’t love it,” he added.
The Independent has contacted the first lady’s office for comment.
Heavy machinery has been active on the White House grounds since October, when the president unilaterally began construction on his planned $400 million ballroom complex.
That’s music to the former real estate developer’s ears.
“I love the sound of concrete,” Trump added on Friday. “I love the sound of pile drivers.”
To build the 22,000-square-foot ballroom, the president demolished the East Wing, the site of the first lady’s offices.
“She loved her little tiny office,” the president told Fox News in November, though he added that Melania thinks the new designs for the East Wing are “great.”
Privately, the first lady has reportedly sought to distance herself from the renovation.
She has expressed concern about the East Wing teardown and has told associates it wasn’t her project, The Wall Street Journal reported last year, citing unnamed administration officials.
The privately-funded ballroom build-out has generated widespread criticism from architects, preservation groups and members of the public, who sent in thousands of negative comments before a National Capital Planning Commission meeting about the project earlier this month.
The commission, chaired by a Trump ally, has a final vote on the ballroom project scheduled for April 2.
The project continues to face legal scrutiny.
While hearing a lawsuit from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a federal judge this week accused the administration of offering “shifting” justifications for what gave it the authority to begin the renovation project without consulting Congress or federal planning bodies.
