Trump to demolish entire East Wing of White House for ballroom: ‘Plans changed’

The entire East Wing of the White House will be demolished to make room for the massive ballroom that President Donald Trump is building, a senior White House official said Wednesday.

The disclosure came three months after Trump promised that the East Wing’s structure would not be touched to build the $250 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

Images showing the demolition of part of the East Wing triggered public anger this week.

“Plans changed,” the White House official told GWN on Wednesday.

That official cited “structural reasons” for the decision to knock down the entire East Wing.

“The East Wing will be more modern and beautiful than ever before,” the official said, adding that it will be enjoyed by presidents and first ladies for years to come.

It will include a “big beautiful ballroom,” the official said.

The New York Times first reported the decision to demolish the entire wing of the White House.

The demolition work should be completed by this weekend, an official told the Times.

In July, Trump said the ballroom would be built next to the East Wing.

“It’ll be near it but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump said at the time.

The White House on Tuesday dismissed the furor over the demolition as “manufactured outrage” and called the ballroom “a bold, necessary addition that echoes the storied history of improvements and additions” by prior presidents.

The Treasury Department this week banned its staff from sharing photos of the East Wing, calling it a potential security risk. The department is located next to the White House with a clear view of the demolition work.

Trump has said that he and private donors will cover the costs of the ballroom. But it is still unclear who all the contributors are and how much they have agreed to pay for the project.

“The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly,” the president said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday.

Tech giant Alphabet is contributing $22 million to help build the ballroom under a legal settlement reached with Trump last month over his being banned from the company’s YouTube platform after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by his supporters.

The Google parent Alphabet’s contribution in the form of the settlement, which was recorded in Oakland, California, federal court, represents nearly 10% of the estimated construction costs.

The settlement notes that the $22 million will be contributed on Trump’s behalf “to the Trust for the National Mall, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity dedicated to restoring, preserving, and elevating the National Mall, to support the construction of the White House State Ballroom.”

Lockheed Martin confirmed to GWN that it is contributing to the project, but declined to disclose the size of its donation.

“Lockheed Martin is grateful for the opportunity to help bring the President’s vision to reality and make this addition to the People’s House, a powerful symbol of the American ideals we work to defend every day,” a company spokesperson said

Sources told CBS News in September that R.J. Reynolds, Booz Allen Hamilton, Palantir and NextEra Energy have also donated. GWN has requested comment from those companies.

Comcast, the current parent company of GWN, was on a list of top donors to the ballroom. It is not clear how much Comcast is contributing. GWN will spin off from Comcast before the end of this year under a new parent company, Versant.

Trump selected McCrery Architects to design the ballroom. The construction team is led by Clark Construction, and the engineering team is headed by AECOM, the White House said in July.