Is Trump tearing down the Oval Office? What he actually told TIME

Donald Trump says he rejected a suggestion to replace the Oval Office, rather than approved its demolition. In a White House interview conducted on September 28 and published by TIME on October 1, the president attributed the suggestion to Secret Service personnel; their alleged recommendation remains independently unconfirmed.

His account included an emphatic refusal: “My ass, you can’t build a new one. This is a special place.” That is the key distinction behind the latest headlines: Trump described something he says he opposed, not a construction decision he announced.

What Trump said about replacing the Oval Office

The exchange came after TIME asked what he would miss most about the White House. The interview was conducted by Eric Cortellessa and Sam Jacobs, and TIME describes its published transcript as lightly edited. The remarks were therefore part of a broader conversation, rather than an announcement setting out a rebuilding project.

Trump also said he had spent six months asking Susie about preserving the room and making it a “federal landmark.” He did not announce that such a designation had been completed. The exchange does not establish what practical or legal protection the designation he described would provide.

Has the Secret Service confirmed a rebuilding proposal?

The Washington Post reported that the White House declined further comment and that the Secret Service did not immediately answer questions. CNN separately reported seeking comment from the agency; its account contained no agency confirmation of the alleged rebuilding suggestion.

Those reports leave an important question unanswered: whether agency personnel made a recommendation, and, if so, what it involved. A request for comment that went unanswered at the time of reporting is neither confirmation nor a denial. Trump’s description remains his account of what others told him.

The answer to whether this interview announces the Oval Office’s demolition is no. Neither the exchange nor the accompanying reporting establishes an approved replacement project. That is narrower than saying no discussion ever happened: the existence and details of the suggestion itself remain unverified.

How this differs from Trump’s other White House changes

The October 1 publication prompted same-day reporting by the Post and CNN. CNN situated the remarks alongside changes Trump has made elsewhere at the White House, including gilding the Oval Office and paving the Rose Garden with stone.

CNN also described an ongoing 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition. That is a separate construction project. Its existence does not establish that replacement of the Oval Office has been authorized, and the president’s comments about the office should not be read as an announcement about the ballroom.

When was the Oval Office built and moved?

The room has a history of substantial change. According to the White House Historical Association, neither the West Wing nor an Oval Office existed when the White House’s initial construction ended in 1800. Theodore Roosevelt added the West Wing in 1902, but his presidential office there was rectangular.

William Howard Taft commissioned an expanded West Wing and the first Oval Office. Designed by Nathan C. Wyeth, it was ready in October 1909. A Christmas Eve fire in 1929 seriously damaged the West Wing and the office; Herbert Hoover and his staff returned after four months of repairs.

The office’s present location dates to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1934 expansion. Architect Eric Gugler’s redesign moved it to the southeast corner overlooking the Rose Garden and improved access from the Residence, according to the Historical Association and the archived George W. Bush White House account.

The archived White House description identifies the marble mantel from the original 1909 office as a feature retained in the later room. It also describes the Oval Office as a formal workplace for meetings with foreign leaders, diplomats and staff, and for broadcasts to the public.

Presidents have also long changed its furnishings, artwork, paint and carpets, the Historical Association records. Some changes happen during the Inauguration Day transition; others happen during a presidency. That history provides context for alterations to the room, but does not substantiate the specific recommendation Trump now describes.