James McCrery II, the architect President Donald Trump hand-picked to realize his grandiose plans for a White House ballroom, has reportedly urged the president to rethink its massive footprint for fear it will dwarf the White House itself.
Citing four individuals familiar with internal discussions, The Washington Post reported that McCrery has concerns about the 90,000-square-foot addition, given that the White House residence is only 55,000 square feet.
McCrery apparently wishes to stay on the project to prevent another architect from designing “an inferior building,” the Post said in its report published Wednesday.
A White House official told HuffPost that McCrery is not going anywhere, stating that “[a]s with any building, there is a conversation between the principal and the architect” and that “all parties are excited to execute on the President’s vision.”
Trump has imposed a vastly accelerated timeline for the construction project in order to make use of it toward the end of his term. In doing so, critics say that he has improperly ignored input from preservationists and the public.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation raised red flags in a letter to the Trump administration last month that read, in part: ”[W]e are deeply concerned that the massing and height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself.”
Trump shocked Americans, including former White House occupants, when he opted to rapidly demolish the entirety of the East Wing, which has hosted visitors and offices of the first lady for decades.
Former first lady Michelle Obama said this week that she views the demolition as a “loss for us as a nation” after previously noting that the presidential complex belongs to all Americans, not just whoever is sitting in the Oval Office at the time.
“I think in my body, I felt confusion, because I’m like, who are we? What do we value? And who decides that?” Obama said on a podcast. “That’s the thing that’s going through my head a lot lately. Who are we? What are the rules? Because I’m confused by… what are our norms and our mores? Not the laws, but how do we live together? That’s the part of it that hurts.”
Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton had posted a similar message to social media as the East Wing lay newly in ruin.
Critics have also voiced concerns over whether Trump’s plan to finance the project — through a number of private donors and companies with federal government contracts — constitutes blatant corruption.
The president appears to have concealed or misrepresented his true vision for the ballroom when it was first announced over the summer. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the project would sit at a distance from the White House, while Trump claimed it would pay “total respect to the existing building.”
Leavitt said the project would come with an estimated $200 million price tag at first, although the figure is now hovering around $300 million.
The project is just one of many that Trump has forced upon the White House in an effort to leave a lasting mark in his second term.