Mary Margaret O'Loha[n]

Good morning, Ben.

Thanks for having me.

Yes.

So I don't know if you can see behind me over my shoulder, there is smoke, kind of a cloudy look coming from the demolition of the East Wing, which the president is removing, changing to make room for the ballroom that he and his donors are funding.

So this is a huge, costly endeavor, but the American taxpayer is not paying for it.

The president is and donors that he calls great American patriots.

There has been a lot of hubbub about this around here, a lot of backlash.

As I was coming in this morning, a lot of the photographers and videographers were getting footage of the smoke back there.

I myself took videos of it because it's interesting.

This is newsy, but what we're hearing from everyone is that how could the president do this?

How could the president remove the East Wing?

And, you know, there's a lot of history, Ben, of different presidents making renovations to the White House.

from Teddy Roosevelt to Harry Truman.

All of these presidents have made changes to the White House, but this one in particular seems to have raised the ire of a lot of the reporters around here, a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill who do not want the president to do this.

Now, Trump himself is saying that this is a gift to the American people.

He's saying this is something that will be long-lasting and that

many generations of Americans and American presidents and their families and their guests can enjoy.

And it does look beautiful.

I was in the Oval Office last night.

He had a mock presentation of this new renovation out on the table that all the reporters could look at.