Trump first said the project wouldn't interfere with the existing White House, but on Thursday satellite images appeared to show the entire East Wing reduced to rubble.

Washington — The entire White House East Wing appears to have been demolished, new images show, after the White House said President Trump doesn't need to seek approval to tear it down.

Trump had said in July that the new ballroom "won’t interfere with the current building." But this week he clarified that "to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure."

Trump administration responds to ballroom criticism by posting White House timeline that includes cocaine discovery, Muslim Brotherhood visit and Clinton scandal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — New satellite images taken Thursday show the scale of the demolition of the White House East Wing as President Donald Trump moves forward with the construction of a new ballroom at the White House. See the change in images from Oct. 23 and Sept. 26, 2025 in images from Planet Labs PBC:

The entire East Wing of the White House will be demolished “within days,” according to two Trump administration officials. The demolition marks a significant expansion of the ballroom construction project from what President Trump said earlier this summer.

Lorenzo Winslow, the White House architect in the 1930s, designed and oversaw the construction of the East Wing and the bunker, as well as other features of the modern-day White House, including the balcony and major interior reconstruction during Harry Truman’s presidency.

Podcast co-host Jennifer Welch called White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller a 'Nazi Jew' during an interview with CNN's Abby Phillip.