Lago, White House Historical Association head said Trump had right to build a new ballroom, but the messaging was rough.

The nation bid a surprise farewell to the East Wing of the White House last month, with President Trump ordering it to be torn down, so a new ballroom can be built.

A once-contested, four-panel suite of paintings by Norman Rockwell, which hung in the White House for decades, is headed to auction.

The 2025 edition "honors 150 years of state dinners," and "honors the elegance and social diplomacy of White House State Dinners, where world leaders have gathered with presidents and first ladies for more than 150 years," according to whitehousehistory.org.

The newly reopened Washington Monument, which typically offers sprawling views of Washington, DC from 555 feet high, now provides a peek at the White House’s East Wing renovations. Andrew Leyden, a freelance photographer in Washington, D.C., posted photos of the scene from the top of the obelisk on X last week.

Yet public conversation around the UAE’s activities has hardened into a social media-driven assault: the UAE as destabilizer or hidden hand steering Sudan’s collapse. Most accusations stem from political rivalries and hidden agendas. That is not surprising in international affairs, but these claims flatten a complex, painful reality into a slogan.

First lady Melania Trump welcomed a 25-foot concolor fir tree on the North Portico front steps to be placed in its traditional spot in the Blue Room.