WASHINGTON — The White House’s entire East Wing was turned into rubble, making way for President Trump’s new $300 million ballroom.
The project continues amid the government shutdown, a concern for some traveling across the country to see the president’s residence.
“I don’t think [Trump] has a right to come in and change it to be honest, you know it’s been that way for so long,” Butch Frith, a Kentucky native visiting the White House for the first time, said. “It just goes to show you [with] money and power, you can do anything you want.”
The East Wing was renovated in 1942 with the addition of a second floor. In 1902, it was built as a formal and public entrance, also holding significance for the First Lady and her staff.
“It’s an awesome thing to change and to get a little bit bigger, to kind of keep up with things,” Visitor Susan Espinosa from Wisconsin said. “I think if none of the other presidents had made any changes that the White House would be kind of small.”
Public discourse over the ballroom’s private funding and construction without congressional oversight surrounds the ballroom’s ongoing development.
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