The White House is holding its first briefing since President Donald Trump confirmed the entire East Wing would be demolished during renovations to build his new ballroom.
The press conference is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
At a Wednesday press conference alongside NATO head Mark Rutte, after originally saying White House structures would barely be untouched, Trump explained that architects’ estimations had changed over time, and it had now been ruled that the whole East Wing had to be torn down.
TRUMP SAYS ENTIRE EAST WING TO BE DEMOLISHED FOR BALLROOM CONSTRUCTION
“Certain areas are being left. We determined that, after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world, we determined that really knocking it down, trying to use a little section, you know, the East Wing was not much. … It was not much left from the original,” Trump said, pointing out that much had changed with the structure over the past 100 years.
“The East Wing is being modernized from its 1902 and 1942 constructions to support the project and the future home of the East Wing. The scope and size of the project has always been subject to vary as the process developed,” a White House official told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
