Trump latestnews: Trump to demolish entire East Wing of White House to make space for $300M ballroom
The demolition of the East Wing of the White House is underway, as Donald Trump says the historic structure “must be torn down” to make way for his $300 million ballroom.
The work to reduce part of the complex to rubble began on Tuesday, despite Trump promising that he would not “interfere with the current building.”
He has claimed that the changes have been wanted for “at least 150 years,” despite the East Wing only being 122 years old, and also claimed that the building was “never thought of as being much.”
However, according to a report by Reuters, the president has not even sent plans for his 90,000 square foot ballroom to the National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees construction of federal buildings.
Trump has suggested that the ballroom replacing the East Wing will be funded entirely with private investment funds, with the president claiming that he will pay for much of the construction himself.
A dinner for potential donors was held on October 15, with senior executives from the biggest brands in America attending the soiree at the White House. Officials from OpenAI, Microsoft, Palantir, Blackstone, Lockheed Martin, Amazon and Google were in attendance.
Claiming that some attendees asked to pledge £25 million, Trump joked: “I said: I will take it.”
A pledge form seen by CBS News suggested that people who donate to the ballroom could receive official recognition.
However, Richard Painter, former chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House, claimed in a BBC interview that Trump is “using access to the White House to raise money.”
“These corporations all want something from the government,” he added.
The demolition project comes as the government shutdown enters its third week, with Congress unable to agree on spending plans that include massive cuts in Affordable Care Act subsidies and Medicaid.
Meanwhile, the president has demanded that the Department of Justice pay him $230 million for probes into alleged Russian electoral interference during the 2016 election and the 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents.
Overseas, in a bid to end the Ukraine war and in yet another major announcement from the White House this week, the US Treasury sanctioned Russia’s largest oil companies over Vladimir Putin’s “lack of serious commitment to a peace process.”
Trump slaps sanctions on Russian oil
Trump has slapped new sanctions on the Russia’s biggest oil companies, a day after saying that he would no longer be meeting Vladimir Putin in Hungary.
“Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don’t go anywhere,” the U.S. president said.
Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said the sanctions were needed due to “Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war”.
Bessent added that Rosneft and Lukoil, the affected Russian oil companies, funded the Kremlin’s “war machine”.
The sanctions were announced yesterday and are the first to be imposed by America on Russia, since Trump came to power.
Owen Scott23 October 2025 10:20
White House says ‘unhinged leftists’ have created ‘outrage’ about the demolition
The White House has claimed that ‘unhinged leftists’ have manufacturing outrage about the demolitions.
“In the latest instance of manufactured outrage, unhinged leftists and their Fake News allies are clutching their pearls over President Donald J. Trump’s visionary addition of a grand, privately funded ballroom to the White House — a bold, necessary addition that echoes the storied history of improvements and additions from commanders-in-chief to keep the executive residence as a beacon of American excellence,” the Trump administration said in a statement.
Owen Scott23 October 2025 10:10
Morning Joe hosts blast Trump’s demolition plans
The hosts of Morning Joe on MSNBC have torn into Trump’s efforts to reduce the East Wing to rubble.
“It is hard to watch that,” host Joe Scarborough said. “And it’s hard to believe that any president could destroy the White House and take a wrecking ball to an existing structure so historic.”
“It would be one thing if you were building on, or you were doing things inside, but to take literally a wrecking ball to the White House … it’s grotesque,” he added. “Just grotesque.”
His co-host Mika Brzezinski commented that the White House is “not your home that you purchased in Jersey.”
In response, Scarborough said that the president can merely “rent it from the American people for four years.”
Owen Scott23 October 2025 09:51
Owen Scott23 October 2025 09:47
Most people don’t want Trump to demolish the East Wing, poll says
A further 13 percent of people said they “disapprove,” meaning over half of the participants think that the president should not have gone ahead with his plans.
Only 13 percent approve and just one in ten people strongly approve.
Owen Scott23 October 2025 09:41
Trump brands anger at the demolition as ‘faux outrage’
Trump took to Truth Social overnight to hit out at his critics, who suggested that he is tampering with a historic structure.
“Senator Josh Hawley dismantles CNN’s narrative about President Trump’s White House renovation during a live interview,” Trump wrote during the night.
“When reporter Manu Raju asked: ‘What about just uprooting the—you know—this is an iconic building?’
“Hawley exposed their faux outrage instantly:
‘Manu, I will just say this. I made this point yesterday, that I hear all of a sudden from my liberal friends that they’re very concerned about our history.’
His post has been shared, a process known as “ReTruth” on the social media platform, 3,200 times since it was uploaded by Trump.
Owen Scott23 October 2025 09:34
Trump brags about his ballroom to NATO Secretary General during meeting
Owen Scott23 October 2025 09:30
Whoopi Goldberg says that Trump’s actions would be like her building a ‘disco’ at Trump Tower
Trump’s long-running feud with the women at The View heated up after the show’s hosts tore into his plans for the ballroom.
“That is not your building. You don’t own that building,” Whoopi Goldberg said, to applause from the audience. “That would be like me going over to Trump tower and saying I’m going to build a disco.”
Joy Behar, Goldberg’s co-host and the author, broke into her own rendition of Lesley Gore’s classic song You Don’t Own Me.
“You don’t own it,” she sang.
Owen Scott23 October 2025 09:26
Demolition of the East Wing of the White House enters its third day
The demolition of the White House’s East Wing has entered its third day, with photos shared online showing the structure being reduced to rubble.
Trump previously described the building, which usually contains the first lady’s offices, as his ‘favorite place.’
However, he has since said that the building was “never thought of as being much” and that the changes had been needed for “at least 150 years.”
Owen Scott23 October 2025 09:10
Hillary Clinton slams Trump for going ahead with the demolition
Former First Lady Hillary Clinton has slammed Trump for “destroying” the East Wing.
“It’s not his house,” Clinton, Trump’s opponent in the 2016 election, wrote on X. “It’s your house.
“And he’s destroying it.”
Owen Scott23 October 2025 09:01
