Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday that he says will prevent future administrations from changing his design of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, spaces which he declared as national monuments that should be preserved.
In the days since his party suffered historic defeats in the midterm elections, the president has seemingly turned his attention to the many renovation projects he has begun across the nation’s capital. Sitting behind the Resolute Desk on Thursday, Trump declared the Oval Office a “national monument”.
“I’m going to be signing a document which will make them into a landmark for the ages,” he told reporters in the gold-covered Oval Office.
According to the president, the proclamation would ensure the West Wing rooms would not be “touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people, in order to build something in a slightly different shape”.
“I just thought it was very important that nobody be allowed to come and take it down and try and do something with it,” he said.
“Every once in a while they’ll look and they’ll say, oh, maybe what we’ll do is we’ll put some glass up that’s a little bit better or something, and I say no, you’re not going to do anything. We’re going to leave this as it is,” he continued.
“If anyone ever decides to come and start knocking down walls, you’ll call me wherever I may be, and I will come back here and I will make sure it never happens.”
Since returning to office, Trump has embarked on a series of White House “beautification” projects, most notably the demolition of the East Wing to make way for a $600m ballroom, as well the building of a permanent granite helipad on the South Lawn.
Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, the president defended his wider renovation work at the White House, saying the building’s exterior had suffered from years of deterioration. He pointed to cracked windows, damaged stonework and broken decorative features, saying he had paid for repairs and hired skilled workers to restore them.
“When you looked at that wall one year ago, it was badly damaged from years of service,” he said, adding that exterior columns had also been in “horrible shape”.
On the desk next to where he signed the proclamation was a red baseball cap emblazoned with the word “Veto” – an explicit reminder of his threat to block the legislative priorities and bills passed by the new Democratic-controlled Congress next year.
Democrats made significant gains in several traditionally Republican states where Trump had previously won, including Texas, Kansas, South Carolina and Iowa, by campaigning on issues including affordability and tackling corruption, while also securing control of Congress.
Trump’s opulent redesign of the Oval Office has drawn criticism, including from former president Barack Obama, who recently joked that “he’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere.”
Obama’s remark prompted a coordinated response from the White House, with treasury secretary Scott Bessent appearing to hit back by dining at a Cheesecake Factory.
In a final appeal ahead of the midterm elections, Trump held a press conference highlighting the delayed results of his $14m renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, while blaming Joe Biden for the algae that had accumulated in its waters.
“This was in the Biden era … Look, it’s not an easy thing. The algae is brutal. It forms easily. All you saw was dirt and filth and paper and everything else for years,” Trump said on Monday.
Two days later, as the scale of his party’s staggering losses came into focus, Trump led a media tour of the White House Ballroom construction site, where he marveled at the renovations to come.
“The whole thing is a miracle,” he said.
