Overview
- Lead architect James McCrery II has urged shrinking the planned 90,000-square-foot addition, warning it could dwarf the 55,000-square-foot White House, and the White House says he will remain on the job.
- Administration officials acknowledge President Trump has veered into micromanagement, holding frequent design meetings, with a scale model now a fixture in the Oval Office.
- The East Wing was demolished in October before a public review, and plans still have not been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, whose Dec. 4 agenda does not list the project.
- Estimated costs have risen from $200 million to about $300 million as capacity targets increased from 650 to roughly 900–1,000 seats, according to recent White House and media reports.
- A donor list released by the White House includes major corporations such as Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir, while new Democratic bills would bar conflicted donations, require disclosures, restrict lobbying, and end anonymous gifts.