East Wing of White House reduced to rubble as part of Trump’s ballroom construction | Washington DC

The East Wing of the White House was completely demolished to make way for Donald Trump’s planned $300 million gilded ballroom, just days after the administration announced it would happen and contradicting Trump’s earlier promise that the existing building would remain untouched.

Satellite images on Friday showed the eastern portion of the historic building reduced to rubble, to the outrage of historians, former White House officials and much of the public.

Also Friday, senior administration officials said: ABC News He said Trump will “probably name” the ballroom after himself. Officials told the press that some were already referring to it as the “President Donald J Trump Ballroom”.

The demolition marked a reversal of Trump’s July promise that none of the White House’s existing infrastructure would be demolished during construction of the ballroom.

Trump went ahead even though he did not first send plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, the federal agency that oversees the construction and renovation of government buildings in the area.

A White House official told Reuters on Thursday that construction plans were “coming soon” sent. A White House official told the Guardian: “The national [Capital] The Zoning Commission does not require a demolition permit, only permits for vertical construction. Permits will be submitted to NPC at the appropriate time.”

But earlier this week, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organization approved by Congress, sent a letter to the White House saying it was “legally required” to subject demolition plans to public review.

Meanwhile, a Virginia couple filed a petition in Washington federal court on Thursday seeking a temporary restraining order on the project. Charles and Judith Voorhees in their proposal in question He said the construction took place “without legally required approvals or reviews.”

“To expedite the project, Defendants unilaterally separate the demolition of the White House’s East Wing from the construction approval process, effectively bypassing the historic preservation and planning reviews required for a project of this magnitude on a national landmark protected under federal law,” the motion states.

Donors of the proposed ballroom include several major technology companies. These include Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Google. Defense contractors and communications companies such as Lockheed Martin, Palantir, T-Mobile and Comcast also got involved.

Announcing the 90,000-square-foot ballroom proposal, Trump said the construction would be “paid for 100 percent by me and some of my friends.”