'White House is not his house': Ex-Trump official bashes president's fancy new ballroom

Former White House official Marc Short bashed President Donald Trump's ballroom project, which included the complete demolition of the East Wing, during an interview on CNN on Thursday.

Short, the chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, discussed the project on CNN's "The Arena with Kasie Hunt." Short argued that the White House likely prefers that the media continue to focus on the story because of all the other problems the administration is dealing with, such as the tenuous peace deal in the Middle East and Trump's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

"The White Houseis not his personal house," Short said. "Itbelongs to the American people,and it's the American taxpayer who pays for it. So the factyou have other people donating,I think, is a little bit of acanard, but I also thinkit's clear the White House is on the defensive rightnow."

"They probably also wouldrather you cover this than the factthat farmers and ranchers areactually now rising upabout the president's tradeagenda," Short said to host Kasie Hunt.

"He's going to Chinabecause the trade agenda is thatmuch in disarray," he continued. "You have nine months of trying tocoax Putin, and you actuallyhave disruption, and you have tosanction Russia. You have aso-called peace deal in Israelthat seems to be falling apart.And so there are a lot of bigissues that impact the Americanpeople daily, and to be coveringthis is probablypreferable for them."