While the U.S. government “stopped,” the White House excavator whispered day and night. U.S. President Trump, despite opposition, is pushing forward the plan to dismantle the East Wing of the White House and build a “world-class” banquet hall.
U.S. Cable News Network (CNN) on October 23 that the new banquet hall was larger than originally designed, and the budget also increased from $200 million initially planned to $300 million.
Several informed sources revealed that Trump showed two models to visitors at the White House and asked opinions on the spot, and most responded that the larger version was better, a plan that was also approved by Trump.
But this quickly sparked protests, questioning whether the president had the legitimate power to demolish parts of the building of his official residence. A source who understood the internal discussions said that not all members of the Trump team initially supported the plan. Some assistants thought the project was too large and tried to explain how difficult and long the process would be. But when they realized that the president would not give up the idea he had been talking about for 15 years, everyone eventually accepted the plan.
As early as 2010, when Trump was not yet in politics, he offered privately to then-president Obama to help build a “beautiful” banquet room in the White House, but the Obama administration silently rejected the offer.
The White House said it plans to submit the design of the banquet hall to the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) for consideration, but also stressed that the agency had "no right" to prevent the decision to dismantle the East Wing.
The White House East Wing was built in 1902 and the second floor was built in 1942 and has long served as the office area for the First Lady of the United States, White House Wizard and military assistant. Today, half of the building has been paved and wooden door halls, wallboards and historic decorations are ruined. White House officials say the remainder of the East Wing may be demolished this weekend.
"In order to get this job done correctly, we must tear down existing structures," Trump said when asked about the project in the White House Oval Office on the 22nd. As he spoke, a model of the White House was placed on the table in front of him, with the banquet hall portion protruding from the east colonnade.
After "a lot of research with some of the best architects in the world," Trump said, they came to the conclusion that the East Wing "really needs to be torn down."
In response to the outside world's accusation of lacking transparency, Trump responded: "I'm not transparent? I showed this plan to everyone who is willing to listen."
In August this year, the White House publicly announced this renovation plan. The proposed banquet hall was expected to cost US $200 million at that time. It was located in the east wing of the White House and covered an area of 90,000 square feet (about 8,361 square meters). It was designed by McCrery Architects, headquartered in Washington, and Clark Construction Company was responsible for the construction. Construction started in September this year and was completed "long" before Trump left office in January 2029.
Nevertheless, the footage of this week’s demolition of the scene is still shocking, especially now that Trump is testing borders on almost every aspect of his presidential power.
A source revealed that the project began accelerating in the summer, with weekly meetings being held to discuss progress. Trump personally appeared and attended the meeting with White House Chief of Staff Susie Weir, the White House Military Office, the Secret Service, the construction team and others assigned to assist in the project.
Anticipating resistance, Trump aides reviewed the legal process needed to complete the project, the source said. In the end, administration officials decided that the White House only needed approval from the NCPC. However, they also said that the NCPC only has jurisdiction after the start of "vertical" building construction, and does not supervise the demolition stage.
Recently, Trump appointed his close confidant Will Schaaf as chairman of the NCPC. Schaaf said at a meeting last month that the NCPC will eventually participate in the project, but not until after the east wing is demolished."I know the president speaks highly of this committee, and I am also very happy that we can participate in the banquet hall at the right time. project."
Preston Bryant, who served as NCPC chairman for nearly a decade, explained that federal projects typically go through three stages: early consultation, preliminary approval and final approval. This early consultation stage is very important if you want the project to be on track from the beginning.
But Bryant criticized that he had never seen a situation such as that in which the Trump administration would separate the demolition link from the approval process, "which hasn't happened during my term of office. If there is a demolition, it's part of the project, the demolition and construction are whole, indivisible."
Rebecca Miller, executive director of the Washington Conservation League, said that demolishing the East Wing before the party hall proposal was officially submitted is equivalent to launching the project before the review process.
“The most worrying thing is that they demolished the East Wing without any public submission,” she said, “and it was at the submission stage that the NCPC, the art committee, or the public had the opportunity to comment on the design, discuss its coordination with the White House, and how to reduce its impact on existing historic buildings.”
Miller added, “Now we are in a vacuum zone where no law can prevent the demolition, and we have not seen any formal proposals submitted.”
The outside world is also speculating about where the money will come from to build the hall. Trump says he will personally be responsible for most of the construction costs, and suggests some unnamed donors are willing to spend more than $20 million to complete the project.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), on October 15, the White House held a dinner for potential donors, attended by executives from many well-known American companies, including Blackstone Group, OpenAI, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, Amazon and Top executives of companies such as Google, as well as social celebrities from all walks of life.
While the donation scheme remains to be confirmed, the BBC noted that this funding model has raised concerns among some legal experts who believe it could amount to "buying access to the heart of government" through money.
"I think this huge ballroom is an ethical nightmare," said Richard Painter, who served as the White House's chief ethics lawyer in the Bush administration from 2005 to 2007."It's about using the opportunity of being in the White House to raise money. I don't like this approach. These companies all want something from the government."