New photographs accessible Thursday seem to indicate all the White Home East Wing has been demolished to make means for President Donald Trump’s $300 million ballroom.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the demolition as she confronted questions from reporters at Thursday’s briefing.
President Trump initially stated in July that the venture wouldn’t intrude with the present White Home construction. Then this week, as crews started to raze the East Wing, an official stated the “entirety of the East Wing shall be modernized” as the huge 90,000 sq. foot ballroom is constructed.
By Thursday, satellite tv for pc photographs from Planet Labs PBC confirmed the East Wing lowered to rubble.
The East Wing of the White Home (L) in a satellite tv for pc photograph captured by Planet Labs PBC on Sep 26, 2025 together with a photograph captured on Oct. 23, 2025.
Planet Labs PBC
Work continues on the demolition of part of the East Wing of the White Home, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, earlier than development of a brand new ballroom.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
“That is the Individuals’s Home. Why not inform the general public of that change and when it was determined that the East Wing must be demolished?” ABC Information Chief White Home Correspondent Mary Bruce requested Leavitt.
“With any development venture, adjustments come. And we now have knowledgeable all of you, we have been holding you apprised of this venture. We have proven you the renderings,” Leavitt stated.
“The plans modified when the president heard counsel from the architects and the development corporations who stated that to ensure that this East Wing to be trendy and exquisite for a lot of, a few years to come back, for it to be a very sturdy and steady construction, this section one which we’re now in was vital,” Leavitt added.
A dump truck enters a makeshift dump web site after dropping soil and particles from the East Wing of the White Home on the East Potomac Golf Course in Washington, October 23, 2025.
Jessica Koscielniak/Reuters
Jarring photographs of the development prompted a wave of backlash and questions, together with whether or not the demolition may have been stopped and who’s funding the venture.
“As for the price of the ballroom and the development itself, all of that’s going to be, like I’ve stated, privately funded and paid for by the president himself and plenty of beneficiant patriots who’ve stepped up,” Leavitt stated. She additionally stated to anticipate a greenback quantity from Trump on how a lot of his personal sources he shall be committing to construct the ballroom, which he has wished to do for years.
Particles is seen at a largely demolished a part of the East Wing of the White Home, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, earlier than development of a brand new ballroom.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
In a while Thursday, Trump was requested by ABC’s Bruce if he’d raised the total $300 million to fund the ballroom.
“Yeah. Really, we have raised I feel $350 million,” Trump stated. “It is all donor cash and cash that we put up, we have raised — it is gonna be, it is gonna value proper within the neighborhood of $300 million. Its been expanded and made completely — it’s going to be probably the most lovely ballroom anyplace on the planet.”
On how a lot he’ll spend personally, Trump stated: “I will not be capable of inform you till I end, however I am going to donate no matter is required, I am going to inform you that.”
As for a doable identify for the ballroom, Trump demurred and informed reporters he would not get into that at this stage. Leavitt, at her briefing, had stated there shall be an official identify for the ballroom and that Trump would announce it as soon as he determined.
President Donald Trump speaks throughout a roundtable on felony cartels within the State Eating Room of the White Home, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington.
Alex Wong/Getty Pictures
In keeping with a White Home official, plans for the ballroom nonetheless haven’t been submitted to the Nationwide Capital Planning Fee. Leavitt on Thursday, when requested if the president can tear down something he desires on the White Home, argued they don’t want to hunt approval to demolish just for vertical development.
Trump himself, at a dinner for the donors earlier this month, stated he was informed by “two males” that he may make adjustments with out approval.
“I stated, ‘How lengthy would it not take?’ They stated: ‘Sir, you can begin tonight. You’ve zero zoning situations. You haven’t any approvals,'” Trump stated on the dinner. “I stated, ‘You gotta be kidding.’ He stated, ‘Sir, that is the White Home. You are the president of the US. You are able to do something you need.'”
