The Trump administration is scrambling to explain why the entire East Wing of the White House was bulldozed last week — a move President Donald Trump repeatedly insisted would never happen.
Now that it’s reduced to rubble, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the latest White Houe official to push a new and more unbelievable excuse.
Bessent’s remarks on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker came as public anger intensifies over the administration’s rapid demolition to make way for Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom — a $300 million project he intends to name after himself.
“Why didn’t the president tell the public he was going to tear down the entire East Wing, which as you know is part of the people’s house?,” she asked.
“I think this was a judgment call on the president. The president is a master builder,” Bessent said from Malaysia, seemingly ignoring the appropriate protocols that were not followed.
“I completely endorse what the president’s doing here with the ballroom, and I don’t know,” he continued. “I assume that maybe parts of the East Wing could have had asbestos. It could have been mold,” said Bessent giving his best educated guess instead of answering Welker’s question.
Whether mold or asbestos is actually present remains unconfirmed.
Public reaction, meanwhile, has been severe. Social media posted numerous photos of the wreckage, describing “a beloved symbol of American history and power” reduced to rubble in a matter of days.
Some took issue with Bessent calling Trump a “master builder.”
“Donald is no master of ANYTHING. His habitual lying is built into his toxic DNA, so no points for that,” one critic wrote on Threads. “Bessent is an unbearable pompous ass, who humiliates himself attempting to defend the indefensible.”
View on Threads
While another mocked yet another wild theory from the Trump administration, “Holy smokes this new reason is crazy.”
Another added, “Who in the hell trust the “presidents” judgement? Who in the hell is allowing him to make all of this decisions alone. Enough! Congress do your job!”
Several fired back at Bessent’s excuse. “He’s a “master builder,” but he doesn’t know that there are safety conditions to abide by when removing asbestos and mold, and none of them include bulldozing the structure willy nilly.”
For months, Trump pledged the new ballroom would sit “near but not touching” the existing structure, saying it “pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” and “won’t interfere with the current building.”
Instead, demolition crews flattened the East Wing, which had served as home to the first lady’s staff.
A White House official told NBC News the “entirety” of the East Wing would eventually be “modernized and rebuilt,” adding that “the scope and the size of the ballroom project have always been subject to vary as the process develops.”
No officials had previously raised asbestos or mold concerns, and none have cited any emergency condition requiring immediate teardown without a public review process.
Preservation groups say the demolition appears to have been a unilateral move by Trump, which also circumvented standard oversight. The National Trust for Historic Preservation warned Tuesday that the planned ballroom “will overwhelm the White House itself.” CEO Carol Quillen urged officials “to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes.”
But the White House argues that because only demolition — not “construction” — has begun, it is not required to submit plans to the National Capital Planning Commission. A person familiar with the matter said that while agencies like the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts typically help greenlight major renovations, “the White House is ultimately exempt,” given the property’s unique status.
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization urged transparency to “reaffirm its commitment to prevention, accountability, and the protection of public health in all federal construction projects,” noting the East Wing was built “during a period of extensive asbestos use in government buildings.”
Bessent insisted the project is moving “at warp speed,” adding, “I think it’s going to be something that all Americans can be proud of.” He pointed to past renovations by presidents, including Thomas Jefferson, whose colonnades critics once claimed carried “aristocratic tendencies.”
The White House has already preserved and stored historic components of the East Wing — including elements from Rosalynn Carter’s original Office of the First Lady — under the supervision of the National Park Service and the White House Executive Residence.
