Trump Fesses Up: ‘I Could’ve Built The Ballroom Around’ East Wing ‘But…’
Donald Trump confessed on Monday that he didn’t actually have to controversially raze the White House’s East Wing to make way for his $300 million ballroom.
But “I didn’t want to sacrifice a great ballroom for an OK ballroom by leaving it right smack in the middle,” the president told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.
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Trump defended his decision to tear down the East Wing, despite initially saying that the new ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building,” describing it as “a beautiful little, tiny structure that was built many years ago, that was renovated and expanded and de-spanded and columns ripped out.”
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“It had nothing to do with the original building,” the president continued. “It was a poor, sad sight and I could’ve built the ballroom around it but it would not have been…”
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Trump then pivoted to boasting about how the new ballroom will be “one of the greatest” worldwide. He noted how “zero” public money is being spent on the venue. (See the list of private donors here.)
“We’re gonna have the best ballroom anywhere in the world, and I built a lot of them. You know that,” he added to Ingraham. “You know a lot of them. This will be one of the greatest ballrooms in the world.”
Ingraham asked if there was any truth to a report that first lady Melania Trump “didn’t love” the idea of demolishing the East Wing.
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Trump replied: “She loved her little, tiny office in it, but you know what? She’s very smart. In about one day, she, if you would ask her now, she says, ‘It’s great.’”
“The East Wing sounds good, right? It sounds good,” he added. “But the East Wing, that building was renovated 20 times, including adding a floor to the top, which was terrible. It was out of common brick, little tiny windows, it looked like hell. It had nothing to do with the original building, and I didn’t want to sacrifice a great ballroom for an OK ballroom by leaving it right smack in the middle.”
