The majority of Americans do not want Donald Trump to demolish the East Wing of the White House, a new poll found.
The work to reduce part of the complex to rubble began on Monday, but a YouGov poll says 42 percent of people “strongly disapprove.”
A further 13 percent disapprove, with the same number saying that they think demolishing the East Wing is a good idea.
Trump has claimed that the changes had been wanted for “at least 150 years,” and 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 hosted a fundraising dinner to court investments from companies including Palantir, Amazon and OpenAi to pay for the ballroom.
The news comes as the government shutdown enters its third week and after Trump demanded that the DOJ pay him $230 million for probes into his 2016 campaign.
Key Points
- Trump demolishes the East Wing of the White House
- Trump brands anger at the demolition as 'faux outrage'
- 'All of the founders would be disgusted,' White House historian says
- Pictured: The East Wing before it was torn down by Trump
Trump ally says that the ballroom is one of the 'most exciting construction projects' in the history of Washington D.C.
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Owen Scott
Trump previously appointed his White House staff secretary, Will Scharf, as the chair of the National Capital Planning Commission - the body which approves new buildings at the heart of the government.
During the organization’s last videotaped meeting, Scharf defended Trump’s plans to build a ballroom at the White House.
“I think it’s one of the most exciting construction projects in the modern history of the District and I think any assertion that this commission should have been consulted earlier than it has been or will be is simply false and represents a misunderstanding of this commission’s role in that project,” he said, according to Politico.
According to Reuters, the Trump administration has still not submitted plans for the ballroom to the National Capital Planning Commission.
Trump claims that the East Wing was a 'very small building'
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Owen Scott
Trump's ballroom will 'overwhelm the White House,' says historic preservation watchdog
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Owen Scott
The chair of the National Trust for Historic Preservation has said it is “deeply concerned” over Trump’s plans for the ballroom.
Dr. Carol Quillen, the NTHP’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said the new building will "overwhelm the White House itself.”
She is now urging Trump to “pause demolition” work on the East Wing until plans for the ballroom are approved by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts.
She also wrote in her statement that the ballroom “may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings.”
No public compliance with asbestos safety measures in East Wing demolition, watchdog says
12:04
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Owen Scott
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization has said that the Trump administration has made “no public announcement” of “compliance” with laws designed to keep construction workers safe.
The ADAO said in a statement that the East Wing was built at the height of the use of asbestos, meaning it could be dangerous for people demolishing the site.
“A worker demolishing the East Wing today could face a terminal diagnosis in 2045,” the group wrote.
“These requirements are standard on all federal demolition projects and are designed to prevent exposure to dangerous, toxic substances like asbestos, to protect lives, and ensure environmental compliance,” the ADAO added. “To date, these documents, if they exist, have not been publicly disclosed.”
The firm added that an asbestos investigation was carried out in 2019, which led to staffers, including Ivanka Trump, being forced to relocate their offices.
Pictured: The East Wing before it was torn down by Trump
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Owen Scott
"It's the perfect symbol of the Trump administration," presidential historian says
11:51
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Owen Scott
Jonathan Alter, a presidential historian, claimed that the demolition of the East Wing is symbolic of Trump’s entire second term in office.
He also claimed that the administration likely wanted photographs of the flattening of the building to be hidden.
“It’s the perfect symbol of the Trump administration and that’s why they didn’t want this photograph and that’s why it will become iconic and be used in history books for hundreds of years,” he told The Guardian.
“It’s not the worst thing that he’s done but there’s a perfect alignment between the visual image and the major theme of the Trump second term.
“Early on with Elon Musk it was a chainsaw. Now it’s a wrecking ball and that’s been their attitude. They’ve taken a wrecking ball to the rule of law.”
Trump demands that the Department of Justice pay him $230 million
11:45
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Owen Scott
Donald Trump has demanded that the Department of Justice pay him $230 million for its probes into his 2016 campaign amid accusations of Russian interference in the election.
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion was also raided by the FBI in 2022, after it was alleged that he had retained government files from his time in office.
He hit back by submitting his first complaint against the DOJ in 2023, according to the New York Times. A second complaint was filed in 2024.
“I have a lawsuit that was doing very well, and when I became president, I said, I’m sort of suing myself,” he said. “It sort of looks bad, I’m suing myself, right?,” Trump told reporters.
However, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said that paying $230 million could be a conflict of interest.
“I think it is a bizarre potential abuse. It’s really head-spinning,” he said, according to The Hill.
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Owen Scott
Mike Johnson says Democrats can use the ballroom, if they 'win the White House back'
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Owen Scott
House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the renovation, which is the first major construction project at the White House in eight decades.
"The White House has been renovated many times," Johnson told reporters. He went on to say the ballroom will be the "greatest improvement to the White House in the history of the building.
“The ballroom is going to be glorious.
“It's gonna be used for everybody.
“And by the way, hey, Democrats, if you win the White House back, you get to use it too."
"We are not giving him the security deposit back,' Stephen Colbert shreds Trump's ballroom plans
11:12
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Owen Scott
Stephen Colbert tore into Trump’s ongoing efforts to demolish the East Wing of the White House on his late-night show.
“That is it, we are not giving him the security deposit back,” Colbert quipped.
“That is so deeply unsettling,” he continued. “It’s like being a kid and seeing your teacher at the grocery store … for sale … in the meat department.
“We’re just nine months into Trump’s term, and he’s already going ‘Hulk smash’ on the White House. Last time, it took at least four years to bring a demo crew to the Capitol,” he added, referring to January 6.”
Colbert has been a vocal critic of Trump during the Republican’s first and second administrations.
His show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, was pulled earlier this year by CBS. The TV company claimed that this was due to financial reasons, although Colbert alleged that it was part of a “a big fat bribe” to encourage Trump to allow the sale of the brand to Skydance.
'All of the founders would be disgusted,' White House historian says
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Owen Scott
Edward Lengel, the White House historian during Trump’s first term, says that “all of the founders would be disgusted” by the president’s $300 million ballroom.
Speaking to CNN, he warned that the construction of the ballroom could dwarf the White House building and even cause concerning structural “surprises” in the future.
“We’re going to see a ballroom which is even more ostentatious, and it’s going to turn the executive mansion into an annexe to the party space,” he said.
“Now, your attention is going to be drawn to this giant ballroom, which really has one man’s name on it,” he added. “It’s going to cast the executive mansion into the shade and turn it much more into a presidential palace.
“And I just say as a founding father’s historian, spent most of my life with George Washington, I think all of the founders would have been disgusted by this.”
The NFL rejects Trump's call to sack Bad Bunny from the Super Bowl half-time show
10:49
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Owen Scott
The NFL has rejected Trump’s calls to drop Bad Bunny from the Super Bowl half-time show.
The president had described making the Puerto Rican rapper, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, the half-time performer as “crazy” and “ridiculous.”
“It's carefully thought through,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, shot back at a press briefing. “I'm not sure we've ever selected an artist where we didn't have some blowback or criticism.
“It's pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching.
"We're confident it's going to be a great show. He understands the platform that he's on, and I think it's going to be exciting and a united moment.”
Bad Bunny had previously referred to ICE Agents as “sons of b******” and hosted a 31-day residency in Puerto Rico instead of touring the U.S.
Opinions on Trump's ballroom range from bad to apathetic, poll says
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Owen Scott
Another huge poll from YouGov says that 35 percent of people think that Trump’s ballroom will have a “negative” effect on the White House.
Despite the president hosting massive fundraising dinners for the ballroom and even speaking about it in a press briefing with the NATO secretary general, 30 percent of people said the construction project will make no difference to the White House.
Just 23 percent of people think the $300 million ballroom will have a “positive” effect.
JD Vance visits historic church in Jerusalem while demolition continues at the White House
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Owen Scott
Trump slaps sanctions on Russian oil
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Owen Scott
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.
White House says 'unhinged leftists' have created 'outrage' about the demolition
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Owen Scott
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.
Morning Joe hosts blast Trump's demolition plans
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Owen Scott
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.”
09:47
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Owen Scott
Most people don't want Trump to demolish the East Wing, poll says
09:41
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Owen Scott
A bombshell poll from YouGov found that 42 percent of people “strongly disapprove” of Trump’s demolition of the East Wing.
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.
Trump brands anger at the demolition as 'faux outrage'
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Owen Scott
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.
Trump brags about his ballroom to NATO Secretary General during meeting
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Owen Scott
Whoopi Goldberg says that Trump's actions would be like her building a 'disco' at Trump Tower
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Owen Scott
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.
Demolition of the East Wing of the White House enters its third day
09:10
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Owen Scott
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.”
Hillary Clinton slams Trump for going ahead with the demolition
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Owen Scott
Former First Lady Hillary Clinton railed against Donald Trump for “destroying” the East Wing.
Clinton, who ran against Trump in the 2016 election, was one of the first to call out the demolition of the White House on X.
“It’s not his house,” the former first lady wrote.“It’s your house.
“And he’s destroying it.”
Dana Loesch, a popular talk show host, hit back by saying that Hillary’s husband, President Bill Clinton, “did more to destroy the ‘sanctity’ of the White House than Trump.”
Loesch pointed to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which unfolded in 1988.
