As Donald Trump continues to rave about the 'bold, necessary addition' of a ballroom to the White House, satellite images from before and after the demolition of the famous landmark of the East Wing show just how much the building has changed under the current president.
Trump wasted absolutely no time settling back into the White House when he returned as POTUS in January, and in the last few months, he's decorated the Oval Office with shiny gold accents and installed a number of new portraits around the building.
One of his biggest changes, however, comes in the addition of the 'grand' ballroom, which the White House described this month as 'a transformative addition that will significantly increase the White House’s capacity to host major functions honoring world leaders, foreign nations, and other dignitaries'.
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To make way for the ballroom, Trump has demolished the entire East Wing of the White House, dubbing the existing structure as one that was 'never thought of as being much'.
The East Wing was built in 1902 initially as a carriage entrance during the term of President Theodore Roosevelt. It went on to become the modern East Wing under President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940s, when officials constructed an emergency underground bunker in World War II and needed a building to help cover it.
Satellite images show a huge area of land now lying clear after the East Wing was destroyed, with a number of trees having also been removed from the area.
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According to ABC 7, two of the trees which have been removed had been planted in honor of former presidents Warren Harding and Franklin Roosevelt.
The new ballroom is set to be even larger than the White House itself, spanning approximately 90,000 square feet.
The decision to add such a huge addition to the home of presidents has sparked controversy among Americans, with a Yahoo/YouGov poll revealing that 61 percent of respondents do not support the president's plan to add a ballroom.
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In comparison, just 25 percent of respondents backed the move.
In response to criticisms, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has argued that 'nearly every single president who has lived in this beautiful White House … has made modernizations and renovations of their own'.
Trump himself also assured that the building wouldn't impose on the main section of the White House, saying: "It won’t interfere with the current building. It will be near it but not touching it. And pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”
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As for who's paying for the approximately $300,000,000 structure, Trump has said it will be funded by private donations, rather than relying on public funding.
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News
Emily Brown