Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On Colorado's Morning News.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
For one hundred and fifty years, they've wanted a ballroom here.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
We don't have a ballroom.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We have a little cocktail area, but we don't have
a ballroom.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Construction crews are demolishing the East wing of the White
House to make room for President Trump's new ballroom.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
The President also said construction of the ballroom was now
projected to cost three hundred million dollars, up from the
two hundred mili that was estimated back in July. Joining
us on the KWA Commet Spirit Health Hotline is ABC
News White House correspondent Karen Travers. Karen, appreciate your time
as always. Okay, we got to talk a little bit
more about how this demolition turned from the President saying, oh,
(00:35):
it won't interfere with the current building to much of
the East wing now looking like it's torn down.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, and as you know, we are told by sources
that the entire East wing of the White House will
be torn down as soon as this weekend to make
way for this massive new ballroom, which, as you noted,
has gone up in that total price tag. It had
been two hundred, then it was two fifty, and now
the President said yesterday, it's three hundred million dollars. Him
back in July had said it wouldn't interfere with the
(01:02):
current building. He said, it will be near it, but
it won't be touching it. It pays total respect to
the existing building. And they had not released blueprints of
the project. They released photos of what it's going to
look like. And you see how it's right there at
the footprint of the East Wing, and it's massive, and
it almost dwarfs the actual White House residents double the size.
(01:24):
But it was never clear that the East Wing was
being demolished to make way for this, as opposed to
an addition on you added on to it, the President
said yesterday, though, in order to do it properly, we
had to take down the existing structure. So there's a
lot of consternation about this. There is pushback in criticism.
Former First Lady Hillary Clinton, who obviously had her offices
(01:47):
in the East Wing, said in a social media post,
it's not his house, it's your house, and he's destroying it.
I know.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
The National Capital Planning Commission has been calling for a
pause on the construction, voice and concerns about that demolition
in the ballroom playing. Can it really be paused at
this point or is it already at the point of
no return.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
It's at the point of no return, I mean physically
when you look at it, and we've been outside three
days now, just hearing the bulldozers tearing down the structure.
It's you can go pull back from the demolition at
the state it's in right now. The also the other
part of it that there's really no clear mechanism, legal
or administrative to reverse or halp the demolition in action
(02:30):
at this point. The commission that's passed with approven construction
is led by one of the President's senior officials appointed
to this position, but it does break a longstanding policy
that requires this government commission, the National Capital Planning Commission,
to oversee and approve federal construction projects in DC, including
(02:51):
the White House before demolition. Likenes begins, Karen.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
What is your overhaul opinion on this? For somebody who
hasn't really been in the East Wing before, didn't really
know what it looked like in the past. Is this
something that actually is really missed by people or is
this something that like President Trump said, oh, it's not
really used.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I think so it is used. It's where the First
Lady's offices are, I should note that, and there are
also other administrative offices like the White House Military Office,
and other parts of the White House staff are in there. Primarily,
though you think of this as the First Lady's offices,
it's also the first point of entry if you were
to come and take a White House tour, If your
(03:31):
neighbors were to come to Washington, d C. And take
a White House tour, this is the entrance that they
would walk into. And you go down this very lovely
hallway that has the paintings of former presidents and former
First Ladies, and then you turn down this colonnade that's
enclosed in glass, but to your left is the Jackie
Kennedy ar Nasis Gardens, and you look out onto the
(03:52):
south Lawn before you actually are in the proper White
House residence itself. So you know, for any person who's
ever taken a tour or come in to see the
Christmas decorations at the holiday season, or come in for
an event or reception, that's the first place you've gone in.
So I think that's why it's maybe resonating with so
many people, because you know, you might not think I've
(04:13):
never been in the First Lady's office before, but when
people who have been in the White House for a
visit or a tour, they're like, oh wait, I remember that.
That's the steps I took a picture on with my
family before we walked in.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Do we know who's paying for this ballroom? Is it
coming out of President Trump's pocket or is it taxpayer money?
Where's this money coming from?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It's not taxpayer money. The President has said that this
is private donations, and he said he would contribute to this,
but the White House hasn't said what percentage he is
paying versus all the private donations, how much he is
going to kick in. But you know, we noted three
hundred million dollars. The White House has not released the
full list of who has donated so far and how
(04:56):
much they have given.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Karen final question. I know he said the demolition could
be done by this weekend. Do we have any expectation
on when it could be completed.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
No, the President obviously once had done before he leaves office,
but it's a very big project, so I don't There
is not a date certain yet that the White House
has said of when the project will be finished, and
when the first event will take place.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
That's ABC News White House Corresponding Karen Travers. Karen, thanks
for joining us.
On Colorado's Morning News.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
For one hundred and fifty years, they've wanted a ballroom here.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
We don't have a ballroom.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We have a little cocktail area, but we don't have
a ballroom.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Construction crews are demolishing the East wing of the White
House to make room for President Trump's new ballroom.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
The President also said construction of the ballroom was now
projected to cost three hundred million dollars, up from the
two hundred mili that was estimated back in July. Joining
us on the KWA Commet Spirit Health Hotline is ABC
News White House correspondent Karen Travers. Karen, appreciate your time
as always. Okay, we got to talk a little bit
more about how this demolition turned from the President saying, oh,
(00:35):
it won't interfere with the current building to much of
the East wing now looking like it's torn down.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, and as you know, we are told by sources
that the entire East wing of the White House will
be torn down as soon as this weekend to make
way for this massive new ballroom, which, as you noted,
has gone up in that total price tag. It had
been two hundred, then it was two fifty, and now
the President said yesterday, it's three hundred million dollars. Him
back in July had said it wouldn't interfere with the
(01:02):
current building. He said, it will be near it, but
it won't be touching it. It pays total respect to
the existing building. And they had not released blueprints of
the project. They released photos of what it's going to
look like. And you see how it's right there at
the footprint of the East Wing, and it's massive, and
it almost dwarfs the actual White House residents double the size.
(01:24):
But it was never clear that the East Wing was
being demolished to make way for this, as opposed to
an addition on you added on to it, the President
said yesterday, though, in order to do it properly, we
had to take down the existing structure. So there's a
lot of consternation about this. There is pushback in criticism.
Former First Lady Hillary Clinton, who obviously had her offices
(01:47):
in the East Wing, said in a social media post,
it's not his house, it's your house, and he's destroying it.
I know.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
The National Capital Planning Commission has been calling for a
pause on the construction, voice and concerns about that demolition
in the ballroom playing. Can it really be paused at
this point or is it already at the point of
no return.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
It's at the point of no return, I mean physically
when you look at it, and we've been outside three
days now, just hearing the bulldozers tearing down the structure.
It's you can go pull back from the demolition at
the state it's in right now. The also the other
part of it that there's really no clear mechanism, legal
or administrative to reverse or halp the demolition in action
(02:30):
at this point. The commission that's passed with approven construction
is led by one of the President's senior officials appointed
to this position, but it does break a longstanding policy
that requires this government commission, the National Capital Planning Commission,
to oversee and approve federal construction projects in DC, including
(02:51):
the White House before demolition. Likenes begins, Karen.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
What is your overhaul opinion on this? For somebody who
hasn't really been in the East Wing before, didn't really
know what it looked like in the past. Is this
something that actually is really missed by people or is
this something that like President Trump said, oh, it's not
really used.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I think so it is used. It's where the First
Lady's offices are, I should note that, and there are
also other administrative offices like the White House Military Office,
and other parts of the White House staff are in there. Primarily,
though you think of this as the First Lady's offices,
it's also the first point of entry if you were
to come and take a White House tour, If your
(03:31):
neighbors were to come to Washington, d C. And take
a White House tour, this is the entrance that they
would walk into. And you go down this very lovely
hallway that has the paintings of former presidents and former
First Ladies, and then you turn down this colonnade that's
enclosed in glass, but to your left is the Jackie
Kennedy ar Nasis Gardens, and you look out onto the
(03:52):
south Lawn before you actually are in the proper White
House residence itself. So you know, for any person who's
ever taken a tour or come in to see the
Christmas decorations at the holiday season, or come in for
an event or reception, that's the first place you've gone in.
So I think that's why it's maybe resonating with so
many people, because you know, you might not think I've
(04:13):
never been in the First Lady's office before, but when
people who have been in the White House for a
visit or a tour, they're like, oh wait, I remember that.
That's the steps I took a picture on with my
family before we walked in.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Do we know who's paying for this ballroom? Is it
coming out of President Trump's pocket or is it taxpayer money?
Where's this money coming from?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It's not taxpayer money. The President has said that this
is private donations, and he said he would contribute to this,
but the White House hasn't said what percentage he is
paying versus all the private donations, how much he is
going to kick in. But you know, we noted three
hundred million dollars. The White House has not released the
full list of who has donated so far and how
(04:56):
much they have given.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
Karen final question. I know he said the demolition could
be done by this weekend. Do we have any expectation
on when it could be completed.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
No, the President obviously once had done before he leaves office,
but it's a very big project, so I don't There
is not a date certain yet that the White House
has said of when the project will be finished, and
when the first event will take place.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
That's ABC News White House Corresponding Karen Travers. Karen, thanks
for joining us.
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