President Donald Trump is facing legal action over the demolition of the White House’s East Wing, part of a $300 million plan to build a new ballroom on the executive grounds.
A Virginia couple, Charles and Judith Voorhees, filed an emergency motion in federal court on October 23 seeking to halt the project, alleging that it violates multiple federal preservation and planning laws.
*Newsweek* contacted the White House and attorneys for the couple for comment via email outside of normal office hours on Friday.
TENANT DAMAGES. Tenant shall not allow any damage to be committed on any portion of the Premises or Building or common areas, and at the termination of this lease, by lapse of time or otherwise, Tenant shall deliver the Premises to Landlord in as good condition as existed at the Commencement Date of this Lease, ordinary wear and tear excepted. The cost and expense of repairs necessary to restore the condition of the Premises shall be borne by Tenant.
SpicyTacoTwerk on
Lol, another day another Trump lawsuit, huh? Look, IMHO, dude’s like a bull in a china shop, just breaking shit cuz he can. Wreckin’ the east wing ain’t primo President behavior, man. It’s high time he learns actions have consequences.
winkelschleifer on
I predict that Trump will go on unimpeded to build the Epstein Ballroom.
Academic_Profile5930 on
The difficulty in responding to Trump is that every new horrible thing he does serves as a distraction from the previous horrible thing he did.
PopPalsUnited on
They are correct.
Factual and morally.
Trump needs to submits plans for approval by congress before proceeding with and construction or demolition.
Also there is the factor of preservation of some of the odds and ends in the east wing that are likely destroyed now. Such as fixtures, stonework, windows and a few other things. Some of the things used to construct it can’t be sourced now.
It would be nice to see Trump follow the law for once but we all know that’s a pipe dream.
crom-dubh on
This picture really fails to capture the scope of the destruction. When I saw this I was like “oh, they demolished that little side building, that doesn’t seem so bad.” Looking at the aerial photo you realize he demolished like 1/3 of the White House.
dogoodsilence1 on
He’s building a bunker
MiddleAgedSponger on
Don’t fall for this distraction. What makes America America are ideas. the destruction of our principles and ideals is the real damage.
Amazing-Artichoke330 on
From the drawings, the new Epstein Ballroom will be in a Greek temple-like building that dwarfs the actual White House next door.
TLDR: His disregard for preservation orders and processes.
1. The 1980 Trump Tower incident: “In 1980, Trump destroyed Art Deco sculptures he’d promised to the Met to speed up Trump Tower’s construction—despite formal objections from preservationists and the museum itself.”
2. A broader pattern note: “Trump’s approach has always been ‘move fast, build big’—and leave preservation laws, expert reviews and public mandates in his dust.”
umassmza on
This should wait the 3 years til he is out of office. He will use the power of the Presidency to weasel out of any judgement before then.
Stereo_Jungle_Child on
Sue him AFTER he already got what he wanted? If he loses, what’s he going to do? Put it all back together? lol
This is the Trump playbook.
He does whatever the fuck he wants (grab a pussy, rape a kid with Epstein, execute a coup on J6, tear down half the White House, etc) , then he dares people to try to stop him. If they try to go to the courts, he’ll delay and appeal and block and drag everything out for years, so in the end it’s meaningless. In the unlikely event that the courts eventually DO finally rule against hum, it’s already years later and he’s already got what he wanted.
grimatonguewyrm on
This is a metaphor for this whole timeline. Ignore precedent, break rules, flout the law and dare anyone to try to hold you accountable. We’re a banana republic run by ignorant thugs (with nukes)
DrBunsonHoneyPoo on
So with being the peoples house can we do a class action lawsuit?
Punkinpry427 on
The people who moan and cry about Confederate monuments being torn down are awfully quiet about this.
MurkTwain on
What’s to hold him back from demo’ing the entire White House if he can just easily demo a wing of it
Strongdar on
I’m guessing some Trump-appointed judge will say they have no standing and dismiss the case.
BlerghTheBlergh on
I swear guys, if he still lives when a new president moves in he’ll demand rent.
You can’t tell me this isn’t some longterm scam to brand the White House as his personal playing field.
We might have to nuke the whole house after
Mobius00 on
When the supreme court says it fine, he’ll go ahead and tear down the other side too.
AStormofSwines on
Putin’s gotta be laughing his ass off looking at photos of Trump LITERALLY demolishing the White House.
khalamar on
So here’s a thought. His stupid ballroom costs $300M. Assuming that piece of orange shit somehow leaves the WH, how about a gofundme to pay for its demolition as soon as he steps out and erase that abomination from history? Counting only the people who actively voted against him, that would average to $4-5 per person. Besides, restoring the original wing would cost less than the ballroom to begin with, so my average is a high estimate.
Glum_Exchange_5344 on
Watch them put up a giant fucking tent “ballroom” and never even finish the ballroom they destroyed American history for
swiftfoot_hiker on
The right spent last week talking about how trump isn’t a king, yet they keep ignoring and letting him do king like things …
DerpVaderXXL on
Uh, do you have a permit for that?
your-mom-- on
Saturated fats, if you’re listening..
solitudeisdiss on
Can we all collectively sue as citizens of the USA? This is technically our property? Class action?
509BandwidthLimit on
You can just demolish a building on the National Registry?
Jetta5371 on
the companies doing it should be sued into poverty, too.
deltadal on
Dude building a throne room.
Actual-Bee-402 on
Nothing will come of this, nothing has come of anything he’s done and nothing ever will. America is a joke and truly in its well deserved downfall
Druitp on
Sued by so many people and yet no payouts
Mementose on
Does everyone actually buy that he’s building a “ballroom”? Ok. Let’s just wait for the presser once demo ends and we find out it all has to come down to become the Gold House.
haixin on
Congress should also be sued for not stopping this
Teddy705 on
How about impeachment and removal from the white house. That should also be the outcome, let alone him being on the fucking Epstien files.
tikifumble on
It won’t matter. He’s going to steal 230 million from the DOJ anyway
elammcknight on
As he should be. They need to stop him before he tears the whole thing down and rebuilds it in his own image, ya know…a cheesy 80’s Country Club
This_guy_works on
It’s not his house, it’s our house. He’s destroying it in front of us without our permission. We need to evict him and charge him for the damages.
Sekret1991 on
I wonder how much notification they even gave before demoing the East Wing. How long did employees have to remove all the history in that building? Just removing all the trim, fittings, etc etc would take time. Then think about all the secret details that must have been built into that building over the years. All the security, surveillance, and counter-surveillance details in the walls. Who removed all them? Are they now sitting in a dumpster waiting for their delivery to the Russian and Chinese embassies?
yoyo120 on
Does it matter??!?? Does anything matter anymore? Like honestly at this point, any criminal charges brought against this administration will melt away because they own the courts, and any civil cases they lose will just be paid off as “cost of business”, or not paid at all.
It’s like Americans don’t understand that the rule of law is LITERALLY crumbling around them.
kevendo on
New Yorkers have known about this scumbag landlord asshole since the 1980s.
For some reason the rural folks never got the memo and voted him in as President to treat our national treasures the way he treated tenant buildings in Queens … and treated Americans the way he treated tenants.
Sabiancym on
He destroyed our property. Taxpayer’s property.
Trump has a lot of his own properties. Someone should pay him back.
hamlet_d on
Why some random couple in Virginia and not, you know, the Democrats in congress? The Democratic leadership is pretty damned useless.
markhughesfilms on
Companies involved in this demolition had better be ready for repercussions. There’s going to be accountability, and we’re gonna make bad examples of people who collaborate with fascism and war against America.
wranglero2 on
He is distracting from the Epstein files! Yes please hold him accountable! Building a ballroom while cutting off food assistance. The White House is the people’s house! The republicans should get back to work.
46 Comments
From the article:
President Donald Trump is facing legal action over the demolition of the White House’s East Wing, part of a $300 million plan to build a new ballroom on the executive grounds.
A Virginia couple, Charles and Judith Voorhees, filed an emergency motion in federal court on October 23 seeking to halt the project, alleging that it violates multiple federal preservation and planning laws.
*Newsweek* contacted the White House and attorneys for the couple for comment via email outside of normal office hours on Friday.
Read more: [https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-sued-east-wing-demolition-10931917?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=reddit_main](https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-sued-east-wing-demolition-10931917?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=reddit_main)
TENANT DAMAGES. Tenant shall not allow any damage to be committed on any portion of the Premises or Building or common areas, and at the termination of this lease, by lapse of time or otherwise, Tenant shall deliver the Premises to Landlord in as good condition as existed at the Commencement Date of this Lease, ordinary wear and tear excepted. The cost and expense of repairs necessary to restore the condition of the Premises shall be borne by Tenant.
Lol, another day another Trump lawsuit, huh? Look, IMHO, dude’s like a bull in a china shop, just breaking shit cuz he can. Wreckin’ the east wing ain’t primo President behavior, man. It’s high time he learns actions have consequences.
I predict that Trump will go on unimpeded to build the Epstein Ballroom.
The difficulty in responding to Trump is that every new horrible thing he does serves as a distraction from the previous horrible thing he did.
They are correct.
Factual and morally.
Trump needs to submits plans for approval by congress before proceeding with and construction or demolition.
Also there is the factor of preservation of some of the odds and ends in the east wing that are likely destroyed now. Such as fixtures, stonework, windows and a few other things. Some of the things used to construct it can’t be sourced now.
It would be nice to see Trump follow the law for once but we all know that’s a pipe dream.
This picture really fails to capture the scope of the destruction. When I saw this I was like “oh, they demolished that little side building, that doesn’t seem so bad.” Looking at the aerial photo you realize he demolished like 1/3 of the White House.
He’s building a bunker
Don’t fall for this distraction. What makes America America are ideas. the destruction of our principles and ideals is the real damage.
From the drawings, the new Epstein Ballroom will be in a Greek temple-like building that dwarfs the actual White House next door.
Someone do something
It’s not like he has a history of doing what he wants, without permission, to destroy buildings and their history…
[Trump’s White House Demolition Isn’t His First Time Leveling A Building — Or Ignoring Preservationists](https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverson/2025/10/22/trump-white-house-east-wing-demolish-tower-bonwit-teller-art-deco/)
TLDR: His disregard for preservation orders and processes.
1. The 1980 Trump Tower incident: “In 1980, Trump destroyed Art Deco sculptures he’d promised to the Met to speed up Trump Tower’s construction—despite formal objections from preservationists and the museum itself.”
2. A broader pattern note: “Trump’s approach has always been ‘move fast, build big’—and leave preservation laws, expert reviews and public mandates in his dust.”
This should wait the 3 years til he is out of office. He will use the power of the Presidency to weasel out of any judgement before then.
Sue him AFTER he already got what he wanted? If he loses, what’s he going to do? Put it all back together? lol
This is the Trump playbook.
He does whatever the fuck he wants (grab a pussy, rape a kid with Epstein, execute a coup on J6, tear down half the White House, etc) , then he dares people to try to stop him. If they try to go to the courts, he’ll delay and appeal and block and drag everything out for years, so in the end it’s meaningless. In the unlikely event that the courts eventually DO finally rule against hum, it’s already years later and he’s already got what he wanted.
This is a metaphor for this whole timeline. Ignore precedent, break rules, flout the law and dare anyone to try to hold you accountable. We’re a banana republic run by ignorant thugs (with nukes)
So with being the peoples house can we do a class action lawsuit?
The people who moan and cry about Confederate monuments being torn down are awfully quiet about this.
What’s to hold him back from demo’ing the entire White House if he can just easily demo a wing of it
I’m guessing some Trump-appointed judge will say they have no standing and dismiss the case.
I swear guys, if he still lives when a new president moves in he’ll demand rent.
You can’t tell me this isn’t some longterm scam to brand the White House as his personal playing field.
We might have to nuke the whole house after
When the supreme court says it fine, he’ll go ahead and tear down the other side too.
Putin’s gotta be laughing his ass off looking at photos of Trump LITERALLY demolishing the White House.
So here’s a thought. His stupid ballroom costs $300M. Assuming that piece of orange shit somehow leaves the WH, how about a gofundme to pay for its demolition as soon as he steps out and erase that abomination from history? Counting only the people who actively voted against him, that would average to $4-5 per person. Besides, restoring the original wing would cost less than the ballroom to begin with, so my average is a high estimate.
Watch them put up a giant fucking tent “ballroom” and never even finish the ballroom they destroyed American history for
The right spent last week talking about how trump isn’t a king, yet they keep ignoring and letting him do king like things …
Uh, do you have a permit for that?
Saturated fats, if you’re listening..
Can we all collectively sue as citizens of the USA? This is technically our property? Class action?
You can just demolish a building on the National Registry?
the companies doing it should be sued into poverty, too.
Dude building a throne room.
Nothing will come of this, nothing has come of anything he’s done and nothing ever will. America is a joke and truly in its well deserved downfall
Sued by so many people and yet no payouts
Does everyone actually buy that he’s building a “ballroom”? Ok. Let’s just wait for the presser once demo ends and we find out it all has to come down to become the Gold House.
Congress should also be sued for not stopping this
How about impeachment and removal from the white house. That should also be the outcome, let alone him being on the fucking Epstien files.
It won’t matter. He’s going to steal 230 million from the DOJ anyway
As he should be. They need to stop him before he tears the whole thing down and rebuilds it in his own image, ya know…a cheesy 80’s Country Club
It’s not his house, it’s our house. He’s destroying it in front of us without our permission. We need to evict him and charge him for the damages.
I wonder how much notification they even gave before demoing the East Wing. How long did employees have to remove all the history in that building? Just removing all the trim, fittings, etc etc would take time. Then think about all the secret details that must have been built into that building over the years. All the security, surveillance, and counter-surveillance details in the walls. Who removed all them? Are they now sitting in a dumpster waiting for their delivery to the Russian and Chinese embassies?
Does it matter??!?? Does anything matter anymore? Like honestly at this point, any criminal charges brought against this administration will melt away because they own the courts, and any civil cases they lose will just be paid off as “cost of business”, or not paid at all.
It’s like Americans don’t understand that the rule of law is LITERALLY crumbling around them.
New Yorkers have known about this scumbag landlord asshole since the 1980s.
For some reason the rural folks never got the memo and voted him in as President to treat our national treasures the way he treated tenant buildings in Queens … and treated Americans the way he treated tenants.
He destroyed our property. Taxpayer’s property.
Trump has a lot of his own properties. Someone should pay him back.
Why some random couple in Virginia and not, you know, the Democrats in congress? The Democratic leadership is pretty damned useless.
Companies involved in this demolition had better be ready for repercussions. There’s going to be accountability, and we’re gonna make bad examples of people who collaborate with fascism and war against America.
He is distracting from the Epstein files! Yes please hold him accountable! Building a ballroom while cutting off food assistance. The White House is the people’s house! The republicans should get back to work.