Demolition begins on White House's East Wing to build Trump's ballroom

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published October 21, 2025 at 8:53 AM PDT

On Monday, workers began demolishing part of the East Wing of the White House to build President Trump’s $250 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom, even though the federal agency that oversees White House projects has not given approval.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with Lindsay Chervinsky, presidential historian and executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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