Donald Trump has revealed how his wife, Melania, really felt about the construction of her husband’s White House vanity project.
The president was speaking on The Ingraham Angle on Monday in an interview that saw the conservative host push back on some of Trump’s answers.
The 79-year-old defended demolishing the historic East Wing of the White House to ensure his super-sized glass ballroom is “great,” not just “OK.”
Ingraham asked Trump about claims that Melania was unhappy with the ballroom flattening the East Wing, which has traditionally housed the Office of the First Lady, serving presidential wives including Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton.
Melania also previously used the East Wing to stage her Christmas decorations and host festive events.
The first lady had “privately raised concerns” about the demolition of the East Wing, The Wall Street Journal reported last month. Melania “told associates it wasn’t her project,” according to the report.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Office of the First Lady for comment.
“She loved her little tiny office,” Trump told Ingraham, seemingly confirming his wife was not pleased with the demolition.
“You know what? She is very smart. In about one day she... if you would ask her now, she says it’s great.”
Questioned about critics, including Michelle Obama, of his bulldozing of history, the president called the East Wing “a beautiful little tiny structure built many years ago,” before labeling it a “poor, sad site.”
Trump insisted that since it was built in 1902, the East Wing had already been “renovated and expanded” before he invented the word “de-expanded” to continue his argument.
“It had nothing to do with the original building. It was a poor, sad site. I could have built the ballroom around it, but it would have, not have been,” Trump said without finishing his thought, adding: “We are building one of the greatest ballrooms in the world.”
Trump continued to attempt to justify leveling the East Wing. In July, he initially claimed the ballroom renovations would not “interfere with the current building.”
“It’ll be near it, but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump said.
During Monday’s interview, the president said that while the term East Wing “sounds good, right?” the structure did not meet his aesthetic standards.
“That building was renovated 20 times, including adding a floor to the top, which was terrible,” Trump said. “It was out of common brick, little tiny windows, it looked like hell. It had nothing to do with the original building.”
He added, “I didn’t want to sacrifice a great ballroom for an OK ballroom by leaving it right smack in the middle.”
The president again confirmed the ballroom is being funded by “private donors” and said it would have a budget of “$250-$300 million.”
The White House released a list of donors who have funded the ballroom, including companies such as Apple and Amazon, and individuals such as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
An analysis into some of the companies funding the ballroom found many have lucrative government contracts worth almost $280 billion. Multiple requests from congressional Democrats surrounding the project have been largely ignored, according to CBS.
Trump’s 90,000-square-foot event space will be nearly twice the size of the executive building, which is only 55,000 square feet.
“It’s going to be the most beautiful anywhere in the world,” Trump said. “We’re going to have the best ballroom anywhere in the world. I’ve built a lot of them.”
There is no completion date for the ballroom, but it is expected to be finished before the end of the president’s second term in office. During a Fox News interview last month, Donald Trump Jr. defended the project as more than something for his father’s use.
“Because of the time of construction, the great irony, despite what these idiots are saying, is that Donald Trump is the president that will actually get to use it the least.”
