United States President Donald Trump has revealed he didn’t actually need to knock down the East Wing of the White House as part of his controversial $300,000,000 renovations.
As part of the massive renovation, the 79-year-old Republican ordered the demolition of the part of the building which is traditionally home to the offices of America’s first ladies in order to make way for a new presidential ballroom.
The changes have directly impacted Melania’s team, forcing her staff to relocate to various parts of the White House, with former first ladies Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton both calling out the move.
Since then, Trump revealed to Fox News host Laura Ingraham yesterday (10 November) his thinking behind tearing down the historical East Wing.
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"First of all, the East Wing was a beautiful little, tiny structure that was built many years ago, that was renovated and expanded and de-spanded and columns ripped out. It had nothing to do with the original building," he began.
"It was a poor, sad sight, and I could’ve built the ballroom around it, but it would not have been - we’re building one of the greatest ballrooms in the world. By the way, zero money spent by the government. Zero."
According to a White House Office of Management and Budget memo, the ballroom's construction is being privately funded by Trump and other private donors, meaning it is not impacted by the federal budget negotiations that brought about the shutdown, reports PEOPLE.
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Trump continued: "We’re gonna have the best ballroom anywhere in the world, and I built a lot of them. You know that. You know a lot of them. This will be one of the greatest ballrooms in the world."
He then revealed Melania's honest opinion on the renovation project.
"She loved her little, tiny office," the president told Fox News host Laura Ingraham, when asked about a Wall Street Journal report that Melania had privately raised concerns about demolishing the East Wing.
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The reports in question, published last month, indicated that Melania had allegedly told associates the demolition was not her project and that she 'didn't love this idea'.
"But you know what? She’s very smart. In about one day, she - if you would ask her now - she says it’s great," Trump responded.
"The East Wing sounds good, right? It sounds good. 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."
He added: "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."
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, News
Rhiannon Ingle