The entire East Wing of the White House will be demolished “within days,” according to two Trump administration officials. The demolition marks a significant expansion of the ballroom construction project from what President Trump said earlier this summer.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit chartered by Congress to further the historic preservation policy in the U.S., has written a letter urging the Trump administration to pause the demolition of the East Wing of the White House until a review of President Trump's ballroom plans is completed.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended President Donald Trump as a “builder-in-chief" amid backlash from critics over the demolition of a part of the East Wing.