“Never thought of as much”: Trump downplays demolition of White House’s East Wing

Donald Trump waved away concerns about the complete demolition of the White House’s East Wing on Wednesday, saying that his planned ballroom would be “one of the greatest in the world.” Trump’s ballroom was initially estimated to cost $200 million, with the administration claiming that the White House’s East Wing would remain intact. As demolition crews moved forward with a complete teardown of the historic building, Trump shared a new price tag of $300 million and assured reporters that the full cost of construction would be paid by private donors.

Sitting with a model of the redone White House, the president attempted

to soothe the press by downplaying the demolition. He trash-talked the East Wing, calling it “very small” and “not much.”

“The building was very, very much changed from what it was originally,” he said. “It was never thought of as being much. It was a very small building.”Related

Modern farmhouse devours the Rose Garden Trump said that “rather than allow [the East Wing] to hurt” his ballroom, “some of the best architects” decided to tear the building down. The president held up renderings of the ballroom, which followed the hotelier’s preferred motif of gilded fixtures against white walls. Start your day with essential news from Salon. Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.

“Nobody’s actually seen anything quite like it. I think it will be

one of the great ballrooms anywhere in the world,” he said. “It’s about $300 million. It’s set to do many, many things… I think there will be nothing like it.”

Reporter: Many people were surprised the entire east wing is being demolished, because you had said initially that the ballroom would just touch…

Trump: It was a very small building, and rather than allowing that to hurt a very expensive, beautiful building that frankly they've… pic.twitter.com/s78BnCMoEv

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 22, 2025