Overview
- At a Rose Garden dinner on Monday, Trump called the residence a “s*** house” when he moved back in and said he paid for new stone as part of repairs.
- He promoted a planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom to replace the demolished East Wing, saying it will use six-inch glass for safety.
- The project is budgeted at about $400 million with space for roughly 1,000 guests, and work can continue under an April appeals-court order before a June hearing.
- Separately, The Cultural Landscape Foundation filed suit Monday to stop changes to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, arguing a blue repaint of the basin violates preservation review rules.
- Preservation groups, historians and polls register broad pushback to the redesign, with an October survey finding 56% of Americans oppose the ballroom plan.