Even the first lady is wiping her hands off Donald Trump’s demolition of the White House East Wing.
Behind closed doors, Melania Trump, 55, has fretted over the president’s destruction of the East Wing to make way for a flashy gold ballroom worth $300 million, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
Rather than coaxing Trump, 79, to halt the project, Melania absolved herself of any future blame by telling associates it was not her project, the Journal reported.
Trump’s pet project has so far resulted in the destruction of the historic East Wing of the White House—including the Office of the First Lady, the East Colonnade, and the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden. The damage is even visible from space.
Publicly, the first lady has remained silent on the demolition of the area where she and her staff once worked. But not everyone in her circle has.
Stephanie Grisham, who served as Melania’s chief of staff during her husband’s first term, slammed the White House teardown on CNN’s OutFront.
Grisham, also a former White House press secretary turned fierce Trump critic, told Erin Burnett the destruction “breaks her heart.”
“It’s something that could never be put back,” said Grisham. “I wish they would have gone about it in a better way… I can’t help wonder what [Melania] thinks of how all of this is taking place.”
Grisham also emphasized the speed the project—which bypassed the standard approval process for White House renovations—was carried out.
“I certainly didn’t expect it to be demolished like a condemned house over three days or so,” Grisham said.
The area is also where Melania focused her Christmas-related activities during Trump’s first term. In 2018 alone she installed 40 divisive blood-red trees in the East Colonnade, while the traditional Gold Star Family Tree, which honor lives of those lost in military service, stood at the entry of the East Wing.
The official X account for the Democratic Party, which has 2.4 million followers, reshared a post acknowledging that Melania has not commented on the East Wing demolition, followed by the statement: “Maintaining the East Wing, including its holiday decorations, has historically been the first lady’s responsibility.”
The Democrats responded to this post with a photo of Melania and her infamous quote “Who gives a f— about Christmas?”
She was recorded in 2018 telling an aide “I’m working my a– off at Christmas stuff… you know, who gives a f— about Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?”
The first lady and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump began demolishing historic spaces on Monday to make room for his massive new ballroom, breaking a vow he made this summer to leave the White House as it is during construction of his pet project.
Since the plans were revealed, the cost of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom has ballooned to $300 million up from $200 million. Private donations will reportedly fund the construction work after Trump claimed he would pay for it. It is now expected to hold 900 people, up from the 650 in the original plan.
The East Wing’s teardown also comes amid a lengthy government shutdown, which is requiring hundreds of thousands of federal workers, including air traffic controllers and TSA agents, to work without pay.
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