Trump slams reports he plans to name White House ballroom after himself: 'Fake news'
President Trump on Friday dismissed reporting that said he would name the White House ballroom, which will replace the now fully demolished East Wing, after himself.
Hours earlier, ABC News reported that the 90,000-square-foot ballroom would be called “The President Donald J. Trump Ballroom."
"I don’t have any plan to call it after myself, that was fake news," Trump told reporters. "[We're] probably going to call it the presidential ballroom or something like that. We haven’t really thought about a name yet."
ABC News also reported that the White House raised $350 million to build the ballroom, more than the latest price tag of $300 million. Trump suggested some of that money could go toward an arch planned to be built at the entrance of Washington, D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial.
"You know, we’re going to be building the arc," Trump said. "And we’ve raised a lot of money for the ballroom, so maybe we’ll put — the arc is going to be incredible for Washington, D.C. So maybe we use it for the arc."
This past week, excavators tore down the East Wing in preparation for the ballroom, which the administration expects to be completed before the end of Trump's term in 2029.
The demolition and ballroom plans have been met with mixed feelings from the public and dismay by preservationists and past White House residents. A recent YouGov poll found that just over half of Americans disapprove of the demolition.
USA Today published an op-ed written by Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Clinton, about the construction on Thursday. She called it “a reflection of how easily history can be erased when power forgets purpose.”
“This is what happens when we take a wrecking ball to our heritage,” Clinton wrote.
Michael LaRosa, who served as former first lady Jill Biden's press secretary, called the now demolished space "sad" and "heartbreaking."
“I don’t think that there’s any question a ballroom is probably needed,” LaRosa said. “But I understand a lot of the sadness around the East Wing, because I feel it myself.”
The East Wing's history stretches back to the early 1800s, when then-President Thomas Jefferson installed two colonnades on the western and eastern ends of the executive mansion. The opposing Federalist Party slammed the additions, saying they reflected Jefferson's "aristocratic tendencies," according to the White House Historical Association (WHHA).
The White House was overhauled in 1902 under former President Teddy Roosevelt, but his distant cousin ex-President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the East Wing as an office space for the first lady and other White House officials, including the social secretary.
It was also the home of a movie theater, installed by FDR, and was photographed in use by several later presidents, including Ronald Reagan, Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
In 1942, Roosevelt also installed a bunker below the East Wing, officially called the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Bush's cabinet members went to the bunker following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and Trump used the bunker during the George Floyd protests in 2020.
FDR's work on the East Wing was also met with criticism, as Republicans said it was wasteful amidst the U.S.'s involvement in World War 2, the WHHA described.