Trump: Ballroom Cost Rose, and Entire East Wing Will Go

Despite President Trump's public assurance, the entire East Wing of the White House is being demolished to make way for his $200 million ballroom—which he said Wednesday is now a $300 million ballroom—and will be gone by this weekend. A White House official said that all of the East Wing will be "modernized and rebuilt," NBC News reports, reflecting a major expansion of the plans as Trump described them over the summer. "It won't interfere with the current building," the president said on July 31. "It'll be near it, but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of." Hillary Clinton, Trump's former election opponent, and conservative commentator Byron York are part of the outcry about the exploding construction project. So are historians and architecture experts. The issues include:

• Transparency: Trump "needs to tell the public now what he is doing with the East Wing of the White House. And then tell the public why he didn't tell them before he started doing it," York said, per the Washington Post. Trump said Wednesday he has been transparent about the project. The White House said Tuesday it will send plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, which is supposed to review any external construction projects there. Trump allies hold a majority on the commission.
• Ownership: "It's not his house. It's your house. And he's destroying it," Clinton posted.
• One explanation: An administration official told the New York Times that tearing down the East Wing would be cheaper and result in a more structurally sound ballroom than adding onto the building would be.
• An exemption: Fielding complaints from around the country, the executive director of the DC Preservation League has to explain that there's nothing the nonprofit can do to stop the construction. Rebecca Miller said the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 makes White House projects exempt from the reviews that other federal agencies must undergo when they want to alter government property, per the Post. Sara Bronin, who led the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation under Joe Biden, said the demolition still seems to be a violation. "The Trump administration's shortsighted decision to start demolishing parts of the White House is exactly the kind of action the NHPA was passed to circumvent," she said in a statement.

• Building pressure: The nonprofit that Congress created to preserve historic buildings, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, called on the Trump administration "to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes." That would include two commissions that have reviewed previous construction. A YouGov poll taken Tuesday found that 53% oppose demolishing even part of the East Wing, while 23% supported it. Just 23% said the ballroom will have a positive effect on the White House.
• Trump's defense: The president said Wednesday, in revealing the project now is estimated to run $300 million, that demolishing the entire East Wing was the best option. "In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure," Trump told reporters, per the Post. He said a "glass bridge" will connect the ballroom to the main White House building. "We don't touch the White House," he said.

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• The heritage: As it is, or was before the demolition, the White House' structure is in careful balance, with the main house in the center and two smaller wings on either side, said the head of the National Trust in a statement, per Politico. "The building respects Georgian and neoclassical principles. It is a National Historic Landmark, a National Park, and a globally recognized symbol of our nation's ideals," Carol Quillen said. She also noted that the site is owned by the American people and that the design was chosen by George Washington. White House tours for the owners began in the East Wing.