Updated October 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM EDT
The entire East Wing of the White House could be fully demolished as soon as this weekend. A White House official not authorized to speak on the record tells NPR the demolition phase of President Trump's project to build a 90,000 square foot ballroom, is ahead of schedule.
Although Trump initially said the project wouldn't "interfere with the current building" and would be "near it but not touching it," he explained Wednesday that "in order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure."
The East Wing demolition, the White House official said, is going directly up to the edge of the residence and includes tearing down the East Garden Room, Family Theater and East Colonnade, as well as the complex of offices. The sight of excavators tearing into the East Wing set off alarms among preservationists, but the White House is doubling down, insisting the demolition is necessary.
"The plans changed, and the president heard counsel from the architects and the construction companies who said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many, many years to come, for it to be a truly strong and stable structure, this Phase 1 that we're now in was necessary," said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, in a briefing on Thursday. "The president wants to do right by the People's House."
The offices and other facilities that were in the East Wing will be rebuilt and modernized, said Leavitt. There will also be security enhancements involving the underground bunker built under the East Wing during World War II, known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.
The East Wing will "be more beautiful and modern than ever before," said Leavitt. "And in addition, there will be a big, beautiful ballroom that can hold big parties and state visits for generations to come."
Going back at least to the year 2010, Trump has complained that the White House doesn't have an appropriate space for State Dinners and other large gatherings, often requiring large tents to be set up on the South Lawn.
When it was first announced over the summer, the White House said the project would cost $200 million. Costs have already ballooned, with the president now describing it as a $300 million project, which the White House says will all still be funded by private donors.
In a letter earlier this week, The National Trust for Historic Preservation called on the Trump administration to pause demolition until the ballroom plans go through "the legally required public review processes," which includes input and approval from the National Capital Planning Commission.
"We are deeply concerned that the massing and height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself — it is 55,000 square feet — and may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings," the letter said.
In a social media post by Steven Cheung, White House director of communications, said The National Trust for Historic Preservation is "run by a bunch of loser Democrats and liberal donors who are playing political games."
A fact sheet released by the White House slammed criticisms as "manufactured outrage" by "unhinged leftists and their Fake News allies" who are "clutching their pearls over President Donald J. Trump's visionary addition of a grand, privately funded ballroom to the White House."
In a statement to NPR, the White House Historical Association said it created a historic record of the East Wing prior to the demolition through digital scans and photographs.
"The East Wing and gardens have been captured in detail for the benefit of our nation and historic artifacts from the East Wing have been preserved and stored," the statement read.
But the White House has not yet submitted construction plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, the agency tasked with approving major renovations and construction projects on federal grounds in Washington, D.C. The White House official said they do not have a timeline for submitting the plans, but do intend to seek approval before the construction phase begins.
Will Scharff, a top Trump aide and chair of the commission, said during a public commission meeting in September that the commission doesn't have jurisdiction over demolition, therefore it did not need to approve Trump's plan to tear down the East Wing to make way for the ballroom.
"Any assertion that this commission should have been consulted earlier than it has been or that it will be is simply false and represents a misunderstanding of this commission's role in that project," Scharff said. "When we are submitted a plan, we will review that plan."
The commission is currently closed due to the government shutdown and their October meeting has been canceled.
Preston Bryant, the former chair of the commission for nine years and appointed by then-President Barack Obama and Trump during his first term, doesn't agree with Scharff's assertion over jurisdiction. In an email to NPR, Bryant said the commission's review and approval process includes the entire project design.
"In that process, what's demolished would be part of the project plan to be reviewed and approved. What's demolished is inherent in the design. Site preparation also is inherent in the design," he said.
The ballroom has a hefty price tag attached to it. Trump said during a meeting on Wednesday that the project will cost around $300 million. That's up from previous estimates of $200 to $250 million. But Trump claims the ballroom is exclusively paid for by himself and private donors.
The White House official said the project has secured $200 million in donations so far and provided a list of donors to NPR. The donors include big names like Amazon, Google, Meta and Lockheed Martin.
Here's the full list of donors, provided by the official:
- Altria Group Inc.
- Amazon
- Apple
- Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
- Caterpillar Inc.
- Coinbase
- Comcast Corporation
- J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
- Hard Rock International
- HP Inc.
- Lockheed Martin
- Meta Platforms
- Micron Technology
- Microsoft
- NextEra Energy Inc.
- Palantir Technologies Inc.
- Ripple
- Reynolds American
- T-Mobile
- Tether America
- Union Pacific Railroad
- Adelson Family Foundation
- Stefan E. Brodie
- Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
- Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
- Edward and Shari Glazer
- Harold Hamm
- Benjamin Leon Jr.
- The Lutnick Family
- The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
- Stephen A. Schwarzmann
- Konstantin Sokolov
- Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
- Paolo Tiramani
- Cameron Winklevoss
- Tyler Winklevoss
Editor's note: Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google and Microsoft are financial supporters of NPR, and Amazon pays to distribute some of our content.
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