Photos Appear To Show Trump’s East Wing Demolition Extended To White House Movie Theater

Photos taken on Thursday appeared to show that the Trump administration has not only torn down the East Wing, but the East Colonnade, which included a movie theater that has hosted screenings for decades.

An AP photo showed demolition equipment right up to the main White House, known as the Executive Mansion.

A White House spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

The theater — known as the White House Family Theater — is built in a former cloakroom, upgraded to a screening room by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The 40-seat cinema has largely hosted private screenings for family members, with studios supplying major releases, but presidents have also hosted higher profile, publicized screenings with guests from the entertainment industry. Steven Spielberg, for instance, screened E.T. there for Ronald Reagan.

The White House has defended the project, noting that it is being privately funded and that many presidents of the past have made alterations. The area is being cleared to make way for Trump’s planned $300 million ballroom, with a list of corporate donors including Comcast and Amazon providing funds.

But the images of bulldozers plowing down the East Wing, which has housed the offices of the first lady and others in the White House, has drawn sharp criticism. The reaction also appears to have caught the administration by surprise. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked at Thursday’s briefing why Trump, when unveiling plans for his ballroom last summer, indicated that the existing structure would be untouched. “With any construction project there are changes,” Leavitt told reporters, adding, “Trust the process.”

There was no public review of the demolition plans and, so far, no review of the plans for the ballroom. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has called for a halt to the demolition and raised concerns about the size of the 90,000 square foot ballroom, which will dwarf the 55,000 square foot main White House.