Donald Trump denies rumors he intends to name the new White House ballroom after himself
US President Donald Trump has denied reports that he intends to name the new White House ballroom after himself, The Hill reports.
Previously, ABC News reported that the new facility, which will be built on the site of the demolished East Wing, is planned to be called the “President Donald J. Trump Ballroom.”
“I have no plans to name it after myself — that’s fake news. We’ll probably call it the Presidential Ballroom or something like that. We haven’t thought about the name yet,” Trump told reporters.
According to ABC News, the White House has already raised $350 million for the new hall, which is more than the current estimated cost of $300 million.
Trump said some of the money could go toward building an arch that is planned to be installed near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
“We’re going to build an arch. We’ve already raised a lot of money for the ballroom, so we might use it for the arch. It will be an incredible decoration for Washington, ”Trump said.
As a reminder, this week the East Wing of the White House was completely demolished to make way for a new hall. Construction is planned to be completed by the end of Trump’s presidential term in 2029.
However, the demolition of the historic part of the residence caused a controversial reaction – part of the public, historians and former residents of the White House expressed dissatisfaction. According to a YouGov poll, more than half of Americans do not support this decision.
In a column for USA Today, Chelsea Clinton, the former president’s daughter, called the project “a symbol of how easily history can be erased when power forgets its purpose.”
The history of the East Wing dates back to the early 19th century, when President Thomas Jefferson built colonnades on both sides of the building. As the White House Historical Association notes, Federalist opponents accused him of “aristocratism” at the time.
During the 1902 Reconstruction, President Theodore Roosevelt renovated the White House, and his distant relative Franklin Delano Roosevelt later converted the East Wing into a workspace for the First Lady and staff, including the Social Secretary. It also housed a home theater that was used by Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
In 1942, Roosevelt created a bunker under the East Wing, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. It was there that members of the government were located during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and Trump used the bunker during protests after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
The historical association recalls that Roosevelt’s reconstruction during the war years also attracted criticism – at that time Republicans accused him of waste during World War II.
