A former staffer for the First Lady bashed President Donald Trump on Thursday for demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make way for a grandiose ballroom.
Stephanie Grisham, a former chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump during the first Trump administration, told The New York Times that seeing the East Wing in rubble was like seeing "history literally being demolished in front of our eyes." Grisham is the latest in a series of former White House staffers who have denounced the project.
“It was such a breath of fresh air from the West Wing,” Grisham told the New York Times. “I hate to see that kind of history literally being demolished in front of our eyes.”
Several people have criticised Trump for pursuing the project at a time when the government is shut down and the economy seems to be unsteady.
Other staffers who spoke to the Times said the project was destroying the "living history" of the building.
“There was never a day I didn’t catch my breath walking into the East Wing,” Laura Schwartz, the White House director of events in the Clinton administration, told the outlet. “That’s what makes the loss to me so painful. It’s not just a building. It’s the living history.”