Work continues on a largely demolished part of the East Wing of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, before construction of a new ballroom.
Jacquelyn Martin | AP
The demolition of the White House East Wing is nearly complete as President Donald Trump pushes ahead with plans to build a massive ballroom, an administration official told NBC News Thursday.
Construction crews are now turning their attention to debris removal, the official said. Photos showed the building largely reduced to rubble.
Trump said Wednesday that the 90,000 square foot ballroom will cost $300 million, higher than the original estimated price tag of $200 million.
The White House has dimissed public anger over the demolition as “manufactured outrage.” The Treasury Department, which has a clear view of the demolition, banned its staff from sharing photos.
Trump promised in July that the ballroom would not impact the East Wing.
“It’ll be near it but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump said at the time.
When asked about the demolition on Wednesday, Trump said the East Wing was “very small” and “never thought of as being much.”
“In order to do it properly we had to take down the exising structure,” the president told reporters.
Construction workers, bottom right, atop the U.S. Treasury, watch as work continues on a largely demolished part of the East Wing of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, before construction of a new ballroom.
Jacquelyn Martin | AP
A senior White House official cited “structural reasons” for the decision to knock down East Wing when asked by CNBC on Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the administration was not required to submit plans to the National Capital Planning Commission for the demolition.
“Their general counsel has said when it comes to phase one of this project, the tearing down of the current East Wing structure, a submission is not required legally for that, only for vertical construction,” Leavitt told reporters.
Imagery shows after White House East Wing demolition. Image is from October 23, 2025.
Source: Planet Labs
Leavitt said she was not aware of any other significant projects planned by Trump at the White House: “At this moment in time the ballroom is the president’s main priority,” she said.
Trump has said the construction will be financed with his own funds and by private corporate donors at no cost to the taxpayer. Donors include tech giants Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta.
The White House has released a list of corporate and individual donors:
Altria Group Inc.AmazonAppleBooz Allen Hamilton Inc.Caterpillar Inc.CoinbaseComcast CorporationJ. Pepe and Emilia FanjulHard Rock InternationalGoogleHP Inc.Lockheed MartinMeta PlatformsMicron TechnologyMicrosoftNextEra Energy Inc.Palantir Technologies Inc.RippleReynolds AmericanT-MobileTether AmericaUnion Pacific RailroadAdelson Family FoundationStefan E. BrodieBetty Wold Johnson FoundationCharles and Marissa CascarillaEdward and Shari GlazerHarold HammBenjamin Leon Jr.The Lutnick FamilyThe Laura & Isaac Perlmutter FoundationStephen A. SchwarzmannKonstantin SokolovKelly Loeffler and Jeff SprecherPaolo TiramaniCameron WinklevossTyler Winklevoss
Disclosure: Comcast, the current parent company of CNBC, is on the list of corporate donors. It is not clear how much Comcast has contributed to the project. CNBC will spin off from Comcast under the ownership of a new parent company, Versant.
