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First Lady Melania Trump privately opposed the demolition of the White House's East Wing to make way for a $300 million ballroom championed by President Donald Trump.
Melania Trump raised concerns about tearing down the East Wing, long home to the first lady's office and staff and told associates it wasn't her project, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Sources said she wanted no public association with the plan and privately questioned the decision to remove a historic section of the executive mansion.
The demolition, completed Thursday, has drawn heavy criticism from historians and political opponents who view it as an unnecessary and destructive alteration of a national landmark.
Images from the cleared site show preparations for what officials describe as "a bold, necessary addition" to the executive mansion.
The administration maintains the project is being privately funded, releasing a donor list that includes major corporations such as Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), Google.
Officials argue the addition will modernize the White House for large-scale events and state gatherings.
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Last week, Hillary Clinton posted on X, "It's not his house. It's your house. And he's destroying it."
Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) called the demolition "distressing and kind of disgusting," urging Americans to defend the White House as "the People's House."
Chelsea Clinton said Trump was "taking a wrecking ball to our heritage, while targeting our democracy, and the rule of law."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also mocked Trump, saying Americans' concerns about rising costs would go unheard "over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House."
According to the Associated Press, crews had begun tearing down part of the East Wing, traditionally home to the first lady's offices, to construct Trump's $250 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which reportedly lacked federal planning approval.
Trump said the federal government owed him about $230 million from prior investigations and hinted he could use that money to fund the new ballroom under construction.
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Photo Courtesy: Evan El-Amin on Shutterstock.com
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
