President Donald Trump demolished the White House’s East Wing, startling historic preservationists and drawing national ire on his way to building what he says will be a new 90,000-square-foot ballroom.
Amid criticism of this projected $300 million project, Trump’s defenders are pointing to another White House renovation in recent memory to suggest the current outrage is unwarranted.
“A CNN report from 2010: $376 million White House renovation during the Obama Administration,” read an Oct. 22 X post that shared a 25-second clip of a CNN news story. “Where was the Democrat outrage then?”
“BREAKING,” read another X post that reshared the same video clip. “People are digging up a 2010 CNN clip showing Obama’s $376M White House makeover — all paid for by taxpayers. Meanwhile President Trump’s $250M ballroom is coming out of his own pocket.”
Obama was president during a White House renovation. But differences between that project and Trump’s project are significant.
Congress in 2008 approved funding for White House work after a government report produced during President George W. Bush’s second term found the building needed upgrades to its water pipes and electrical systems, CNN reported in 2010. The changes improved heating, cooling, and fire alarm systems that hadn’t been updated since 1902 or 1934.
Bob Peck, then commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service, told CNN in 2010 that the White House sometimes experienced power outages and leaky pipes.
Obama’s underground renovations affected mainly the building’s interior.
Separately, the The Obamas in 2009 updated and redecorated the White House’s interior without using taxpayer money. The New York Times reported in 2020 that the White House’s new furnishings were paid for largely with Obama’s book royalties and donations. Obama also adapted the White House tennis court so it could be used as a basketball court.
Trump’s East Wing demolition and ballroom addition have not been approved by the federal agency that oversees federal building construction and renovations. Trump said the project aims to expand the East Wing’s seating capacity from 200 people to 999.
The White House originally said the project would cost $200 million, but Trump has since said it will be $300 million, funded by donations. Donors include individuals and corporations such as Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft, The Washington Post reported.
“It’s unprecedented, in all the wrong ways, including that the American public has been kept totally in the dark about the President’s plans,” said Sara Bronin, Freda H. Alverson professor of law at the George Washington University Law School.
Priya Jain, chair of the Society of Architectural Historians’ Heritage Conservation Committee, pushed back against calling Trump’s project a renovation: “This project involves total destruction of a large part of the building,” she said.
Obama’s era project covered renovations, Trump’s knocked down a whole wing
The Obama-era renovation started in 2010 with an estimated $376 million cost to improve the East and West Wings’ infrastructure, CNN reported in 2010.
Peck described the project as largely underground utility work. “It doesn’t do a whole lot of good to have a building that’s the sort of the image of the free world standing up there and not functioning well,” Peck told CNN when questioned about the cost.
Bloomberg News reported in 2010 that the Obama renovation was the biggest White House upgrade since President Harry Truman was in office. From 1948 to 1952, Truman oversaw the White House’s historic gutting, renovation and expansion in response to significant structural issues that at one point resulted in the leg of his daughter’s piano breaking through the floor.
Trump’s project will be the first major exterior change of the White House in 83 years, historic preservationists say.
“Such a significant change to a historic building of this import should follow a rigorous and deliberate design and review process,” the Society of Architectural Historians said in an Oct. 16 statement.
Since taking office a second time, Trump has also added gold highlights inside the Oval Office and paved over the Rose Garden lawn. The National Park Service oversaw the Rose Garden project.
The presidents’ projects differ in federal agency approval
At a September meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission — the federal agency that oversees federal building construction and renovations — the Trump-appointed commission chair Will Scharf said the agency has no jurisdiction over “demolition and site preparation work,” only over construction and “vertical build.” The commission was expected to meet Nov. 6, but it’s unclear whether that will happen if the federal government shutdown continues.
PolitiFact looked at National Planning Commission’s Project Search for approval records of the Obama renovations, but the database doesn’t have records before Jan. 2012. We reached out to the commission to ask if they approved the 2010 renovations, but received no response because of their closure.
The White House is exempt from Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which says that each federal agency must consider public views and concerns about historic preservation when making final project decisions. Michael Spencer, an associate professor in the University of Mary Washington’s historic preservation department said presidents have nevertheless typically undertaken White House projects in the spirit of public transparency. The National Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts approved Trump’s first-term term tennis facility alterations, for example.
“Most importantly none of these projects involved demolition of existing historic buildings,” Jain said.
The East Colonnade and East Wing were built in 1902 and 1942, respectively, and, under National Park Service guidelines, should have been assessed for historic significance before being demolished, she said.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
