Trump Wants To Turn The White House Press Room Into A Swimming Pool
- 21.10.2026, 14:33
The indoor swimming pool was built in 1933 for President Franklin Roosevelt.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed a desire to evict journalists accredited to the White House and turn the briefing room into an indoor swimming pool.
This was reported by The New York Times on October 20.
According to the publication, Trump discussed this in August 2026 with then-White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt. Specifically, he proposed removing journalists from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, which would effectively have evicted media representatives from the White House. Trump told Levitt that this would be her “final legacy”.
Trump’s proposal was not implemented during Levitt’s tenure as press secretary—although, according to three sources interviewed by the publication, Trump made this request to her on several occasions.
On August 27, Caroline Levitt officially stepped down as White House press secretary.
Also, according to the NYT, Trump told his aides that he wanted to restore the indoor pool built in 1933 for President Franklin D. Roosevelt—to treat his legs, which had been affected by polio. During the presidency of Richard Nixon, the pool was covered to make room for the press. White House-accredited journalists work in a small office connected to the briefing room.
“Although evicting the media from the White House may not be a particularly high-profile topic of discussion, in the context of President Trump’s much broader attacks on journalists, it would be highly symbolic,” the NYT noted. It emphasized that the media’s proximity to the seat of the U.S. executive branch is considered a recognition of the importance of a free press in a constitutional democracy.
Donald Trump raised the idea of evicting journalists as early as his first presidential term and, apparently, has never abandoned it. According to the publication’s sources, the press may be relocated to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, located across the street.
Trump himself claimed that the new ballroom would serve not only as a venue for social events but also as a facility ensuring national security, with six underground floors and infrastructure for air defense and missile defense systems.