President Donald Trump was finally asked about reports that said First Lady Melania Trump ‘didn’t love’ that he demolished the White House’s East Wing – synonymous with the First Lady’s office.
Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham asked Trump in an interview that aired Monday night about a Wall Street Journal report that indicated Melania was less than thrilled by the controversial demolition.
The East Wing was flattened three weeks ago to make way for Trump’s so-called ‘big, beautiful ballroom,’ which could cost as much as $300 million but is being financed by private donations.
‘She loved her little tiny office, but you know what? In about, she’s very smart, in about one day, she’s thinking, if you ask her now, she thinks it’s great,’ the president answered.
Trump said that while the East Wing ‘sounds good,’ he claimed the 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,’ the president continued.
‘It has nothing to do with the original building, and I didn’t want to sacrifice a great ballroom for an OK ballroom by leaving it smack in the middle,’ he added.
While Democratic First Ladies Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama spoke out about the East Wing being torn down – Obama more recently – Melania Trump hasn’t said anything publicly.
President Donald Trump (left) seemed to confirm a report that said First Lady Melania Trump (right) wasn’t happy about the East Wing being torn down, though told Laura Ingraham she likes the ballroom project now
The East Wing of the White House was torn down three weeks ago to make room for President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful ballroom,’ which he said could have been built around the existing structure but it wouldn’t be as nice
Ingraham asked the president about Obama saying Trump had denigrated the office of the First Lady by tearing down the offices.
‘When we talk about the East Wing, it is the heart of the work,’ she said. ‘nd to denigrate it, to tear it down, to pretend like it doesn’t matter – it’s a reflection of how you think of that role.’
Trump, again, argued that it was a ‘poor, sad sight.’
He also said Obama ‘wouldn’t mind’ a new ballroom, calling attention to the tents she had erected on the South Lawn whenever she and President Barack Obama wanted to host a larger state dinner.
The East Wing offices are expected to be moved back to the larger ballroom complex, once construction is completed.
The East Wing’s demolition was met with controversy in part because the president bypassed any sort of historic preservation review.
Trump had appointed Staff Secretary Will Scharf to lead the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the government agency charged with providing planning guidance to Washington, D.C.and the surrounding area.
Scharf argued that NCPC doesn’t monitor demolitions, just construction.
The current version of the East Wing had been built in 1942 during the administration of FDR, with a second floor to be used for the offices of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. FDR is photographed laying the cornerstone of what had been the East Wing
The original East Wing was a one-story addition built during the tenure of Republican President Teddy Roosevelt. Here it’s pictured in 1906
President George W. Bush is captured in front of the enlarged East Wing in 2006
In addition, the NCPC was closed due to the government shutdown.
That allowed the project to go forward without any oversight and without public meetings.
The modern East Wing dated back to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who expanded the building in part to hide his World War II bunker and to give office space to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
The original construction of an East Wing building happened during the administration of his distant cousin, President Teddy Roosevelt.
