President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a proclamation that he says will preserve the Oval Office and Cabinet Room as a national monument, his first official action after his party was swept aside in midterm elections on Tuesday.
The proclamation , released after Trump’s remarks, says that nothing in it will “restrict the President’s authority to redecorate the monument, select furnishings, or make ordinary operational and security modifications that do not substantially impair the monument’s historic structure or architectural character. Trump, however, described the Oval Office order in expansive terms. “We like the Oval Office, and it’s a symbol, like the White House itself. It was the third day this week that the president, a real estate mogul, delivered remarks fixated on his pet projects in Washington . It orders the Interior secretary to manage the Oval Office and requires “documentation, review, and consideration of alternatives before any action that would substantially alter or demolish the monument. His other additions to the Oval Office include numerous gold wall appliqués and gold-framed portraits.
“It will not be allowed to be touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people, in order to build something in a slightly different shape,” Trump said. Trump separately said any major changes would need review from Congress, though such a requirement is not in the document’s text. “If they want to say, ‘Let’s not have oval anymore, let’s make it square,’ what happens is they have to go back to Congress and hopefully the Congress, the people in Congress, will be smart enough not to let that happen,” said Trump — who notably demolished the East Wing of the White House to make room for his ballroom. A red baseball cap with “VETO” on the front was sitting on the Resolute Desk as Trump signed the document, a not-so-subtle nod to the shifting of powers in Congress. As he talked about his interior decorating decisions, Trump highlighted new chandeliers that he says were installed in the Cabinet Room to address “very bad lighting.
On Wednesday, a day after Republicans suffered defeats in key races across the country, Trump gathered reporters to sign the final beam being raised during construction of his opulent ballroom project. On Monday, he went to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to talk about his renovation of the landmark.
