Trump muses about demolishing another part of the White House
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President Donald Trump has floated the idea of tearing down yet another part of the White House.
The commander-in-chief shared a picture of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room on Truth Social, alongside a rendering of an indoor swimming pool.
The first picture was labeled “Fake News, Before,” while the second was titled “FDR Pool After”, the implication appearing to be the president wants to do away with the press room altogether.
Trump did not caption the image, so it is unclear if the president truly plans to tear down the press room, or is taking a swipe at the media amid his ongoing feud, or even just making a pun on “press pool” and “swimming pool.”
Previously, Trump has shown a lack of interest in renovating the press room at the White House.
“I don’t want to do that,” he previously told a reporter who asked him about renovating the room. “I don’t want you to be comfortable.”
Trump’s rendering of the indoor pool is in his distinctive decor style, replete with gold embellishments and gleaming, white surfaces. Even the swimming pool’s ladder is made out of gold.
The White House did once have an indoor swimming pool, which was installed by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt back in 1933. The then-president used the pool to exercise and to ease symptoms of polio.
Roosevelt’s successors, all the way up until former President Lyndon B. Johnson, used the pool until it was closed under former President Richard Nixon and used to make space for what is now the White House press room.
The post comes amid the president’s ongoing feud with the press, which saw him try and ban three major outlets from the White House.
Major television networks comprising the White House TV pool agreed to suspend their coverage of the president in response to the ban.
A judge blocked the ban from being enforced after the three outlets - CNN, POLITICO and MS NOW - sued Trump and several White House officials.
However, CNN was later barred from traveling with Trump on Air Force One to Tennessee over the weekend.
Whether the press room suggestion is serious or not, Trump has made a series of major renovations to the White House in his second term, including tearing down the East Wing to make way for a ballroom.
The president has also paved over the White House Rose Garden and installed a brand new helipad.


