{"id":937,"date":"2025-11-03T13:16:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T13:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=937"},"modified":"2025-11-03T13:16:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T13:16:50","slug":"how-trumps-white-house-ballroom-compares-with-obama-renovations-donald-trump-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=937","title":{"rendered":"How Trump\u2019s White House ballroom compares with Obama renovations | Donald Trump News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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President Donald Trump has demolished the White House\u2019s East Wing, startling historic preservationists and drawing national ire on his way to building what he says will be a new 8,400-square-metre (90,000-square-foot) ballroom.<\/p>\n

Amid criticism of this projected $300m project, however, Trump\u2019s defenders are pointing to another White House renovation in recent memory to suggest the current outrage is unwarranted.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA CNN report from 2010: $376 million White House renovation during the Obama Administration,\u201d read an October 22 X post that shared a 25-second clip of a\u00a0CNN news story. \u201cWhere was the Democrat outrage then?\u201d<\/p>\n

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A CNN report from 2010:<\/p>\n

$376 million White House renovation during the Obama Administration.<\/p>\n

Where was the Democrat outrage then? pic.twitter.com\/MvLVDFcTru<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Christian Collins (@CollinsforTX) October 22, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBREAKING,\u201d read another X post that reshared the same video clip. \u201cPeople are digging up a 2010 CNN clip showing Obama\u2019s $376M White House makeover all paid for by taxpayers. Meanwhile President Trump\u2019s $250M ballroom is coming out of his own pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udea8BREAKING: People are digging up a 2010 CNN clip showing Obama\u2019s $376M White House makeover \u2014 all paid for by taxpayers. Meanwhile President Trump\u2019s $250M ballroom is coming out of his own pocket.pic.twitter.com\/PSS2K8SJRJ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 aka (@akafaceUS) October 25, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Obama was president during a White House renovation. But differences between that project and Trump\u2019s project are significant.<\/p>\n

Congress in 2008 approved funding for White House work after a government report produced during President George W Bush\u2019s second term found the building needed upgrades to its water pipes and electrical systems, CNN reported in 2010. The changes improved heating, cooling and fire alarm systems that hadn\u2019t been updated since 1902 or 1934.<\/p>\n

Bob Peck, then commissioner of the US General Services Administration\u2019s Public Buildings Service, told CNN\u00a0in 2010 that the White House sometimes experienced power outages and leaky pipes.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s underground renovations affected mainly the building\u2019s interior.<\/p>\n

Separately, the\u00a0Obamas\u00a0in 2009\u00a0updated and redecorated\u00a0the White House\u2019s interior without using taxpayer money. The New York Times\u00a0reported\u00a0in 2020 that the White House\u2019s new furnishings were paid for largely with Obama\u2019s book royalties and donations. Obama also\u00a0adapted\u00a0the White House tennis court so it could be used as a basketball court.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s East Wing demolition and ballroom addition have not been approved by the federal agency that oversees federal building construction and renovations. Trump\u00a0said\u00a0the project aims to\u00a0expand the East Wing\u2019s seating capacity\u00a0from 200 people to 999.<\/p>\n

The White House originally said the project would cost $200m, but Trump has since said it will be $300m, funded by donations. Donors include individuals and corporations such as Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft, The Washington Post\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unprecedented, in all the wrong ways, including that the American public has been kept totally in the dark about the President\u2019s plans,\u201d said Sara Bronin, Freda H Alverson professor of law at the George Washington University Law School.<\/p>\n

Priya Jain, chair of the Society of Architectural Historians\u2019 Heritage Conservation Committee, pushed back against calling Trump\u2019s project a renovation. \u201cThis project involves total destruction of a large part of the building,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s era project covered renovations, Trump\u2019s knocked down a whole wing<\/h2>\n

The Obama-era renovation started in 2010 with an estimated $376m cost to improve the East and West Wings\u2019 infrastructure, CNN reported in 2010.<\/p>\n

Peck described the project as largely underground utility work. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t do a whole lot of good to have a building that\u2019s the sort of the image of the free world standing up there and not functioning well,\u201d Peck told\u00a0CNN\u00a0when questioned about the cost.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg News\u00a0reported\u00a0in 2010 that the Obama renovation was the biggest White House upgrade since President Harry Truman was in office. From 1948 to 1952, Truman oversaw the White House\u2019s historic gutting,\u00a0renovation and expansion\u00a0in response to significant\u00a0structural issues\u00a0that at one point resulted in the leg of his daughter\u2019s piano breaking through the floor.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s project will be the first major exterior change of the White House in 83 years, historic preservationists say.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch a significant change to a historic building of this import should follow a rigorous and deliberate design and review process,\u201d the Society of Architectural Historians\u00a0said in an October 16 statement.<\/p>\n

Since taking office a second time, Trump has also\u00a0added\u00a0gold highlights inside the Oval Office and\u00a0paved over\u00a0the Rose Garden lawn. The National Park Service\u00a0oversaw\u00a0the\u00a0Rose Garden project.<\/p>\n

The presidents\u2019 projects differ in federal agency approval<\/h2>\n

At a September meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission \u2013 the federal agency that oversees federal building construction and renovations \u2013 the Trump-appointed commission chair Will Scharf said the agency has no jurisdiction over \u201cdemolition and site preparation work\u201d, only over construction and \u201cvertical build\u201d. The commission was expected to meet on November 6, but it\u2019s unclear whether that will happen if the federal government shutdown continues.<\/p>\n

PolitiFact looked at the National Planning Commission\u2019s Project Search for approval records of the Obama renovations, but the database doesn\u2019t have records before January 2012. We reached out to the commission to ask if they approved the 2010 renovations, but received no response because of their closure.<\/p>\n

The White House is exempt from\u00a0Section 106\u00a0of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which says that each federal agency must consider public views and concerns about historic preservation when making final project decisions. Michael Spencer, an associate professor in the University of Mary Washington\u2019s historic preservation department said presidents have nevertheless typically undertaken White House projects in the spirit of public transparency. The\u00a0National Planning Commission\u00a0and the\u00a0Commission of Fine Arts\u00a0approved Trump\u2019s first-term term tennis facility alterations, for example.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, none of these projects involved demolition of existing historic buildings,\u201d Jain said.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0East Colonnade\u00a0and\u00a0East Wing\u00a0were built in 1902 and 1942, respectively, and, under National Park Service guidelines, should have been assessed for historic significance before being demolished, she said.<\/p>\n

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n