Demolition of White House wing to be completed 'within days'

The Trump administration has said the White House's East Wing will be demolished "within days", a revelation given the administration has not submitted plans for the new ballroom to the federal agency that oversees construction of federal buildings.

- Lauren Aratani Robert Mackey

In discussion with reporters in the Oval Office, Donald Trump was asked to respond to the widespread surprise that the entire East Wing was being torn down. Trump said the wing he described as a separate building "was never thought of as being much; it was a very small building ...

"In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure."

Then, pointing at a model of the new ballroom on a table in front of him, and a new structure leading to the ballroom in the location where the East Wing used to be, Trump added: "The way it was shown, it looked like we were touching the White House. We don't touch the White House."

Trump added of the new structure that will replace the East Wing: "That's a bridge, a glass bridge going from the White House to the ballroom." Trump said the result was "going to be probably the finest ballroom ever built" and that the ballroom was "being paid for 100% by me and some friends of mine".

The White House revealed yesterday that major companies in the technology, defence and crypto industries were among those funding Trump's $300m (£225m) ballroom.