New photos out there Thursday seem to indicate the whole White Home East Wing has been demolished to make manner for what 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 mentioned in July that the venture wouldn’t intrude with the prevailing White Home construction. Then this week, as crews started to raze the East Wing, an official mentioned the “entirety of the East Wing can be modernized” as the huge 90,000 sq. foot ballroom is constructed.
By Thursday, satellite tv for pc photos from Planet Labs PBC confirmed the East Wing diminished to rubble.
The East Wing of the White Home (L) in a satellite tv for pc picture 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, modifications come. And now we have knowledgeable all of you, we have been protecting you apprised of this venture. We have proven you the renderings,” Leavitt mentioned.
“The plans modified when the president heard counsel from the architects and the development firms who mentioned that to ensure that this East Wing to be fashionable and exquisite for a lot of, a few years to return, for it to be a really robust and secure construction, this part one which we’re now in was obligatory,” 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 photos 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 mentioned, privately funded and paid for by the president himself and plenty of beneficiant patriots who’ve stepped up,” Leavitt mentioned. She additionally mentioned to count on a greenback quantity from Trump on how a lot of his personal sources he can be committing to construct the ballroom, which he has needed 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 complete $300 million to fund the ballroom.
“Yeah. Truly, we have raised I feel $350 million,” Trump mentioned. “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 will be probably the most stunning ballroom anyplace on the earth.”
On how a lot he’ll spend personally, Trump mentioned: “I will not be capable to let you know till I end, however I am going to donate no matter is required, I am going to let you know that.”
On a potential title for the ballroom, Trump demurred and instructed reporters he would not get into that at this stage. Leavitt, at her briefing, had mentioned there can be an official title 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 Photographs
In accordance 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 needs 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, mentioned he was instructed by “two males” that he may make modifications with out approval.
“I mentioned, ‘How lengthy would it not take?’ They mentioned: ‘Sir, you can begin tonight. You might have zero zoning situations. You don’t have any approvals,'” Trump mentioned on the dinner. “I mentioned, ‘You gotta be kidding.’ He mentioned, ‘Sir, that is the White Home. You are the president of the US. You are able to do something you need.'”
