Trump says East Wing being demolished for White House ballroom: 'We had to take down the existing structure'

The entire East Wing of the White House is being demolished to make way for President Trump's planned massive ballroom.

"In order to do it properly we had to take down the existing structure," Trump, flanked by renderings of the ballroom, told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday. 

Trump's acknowledgement that the East Wing was being razed came after videos posted on social media this week showed a crane being used to begin tearing down the structure. 

Shortly after the project was originally announced in July, the president said that the construction of the 90,000-square-foot ballroom wouldn't "interfere with the current building."

“It’ll be near it, but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump said.

White House officials also said at the time that the ballroom would be “substantially separated from the main building of the White House.”

But on Wednesday, Trump said it was determined after conversations with architects that knocking down the East Wing was the preferred option.

"It was never thought of as being much. It was a very small building," Trump said of the East Wing.

Trump held up photos of renderings of the ballroom, which he said would be used to host world leaders. The cost, which he said would be $300 million, is expected to be paid for by Trump and donors. The White House initially said the cost would be roughly $200 million.

"I think it will be one of the great ballrooms anywhere in the world," he said.

Trump's ballroom blitz has sparked intense backlash from Democrats.

"The East Wing of the White House is being demolished so that Donald Trump can construct a ballroom where he will be celebrated like a king," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on Wednesday. 

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has referred to the project as a "gigantic boondoggle."

According to a White House official, several components of the East Wing were relocated within the complex. The first lady's office and the social secretary's office were moved within the White House, while the Military Office, the Graphics and Calligraphy Office, and Visitors Office, along with the Office of Legislative Affairs, were transferred to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. 

The East Wing was added to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency in 1942, according to the White House Historical Association (WHHA). It was originally built to "house additional staff and offices" and "over time provided space for the first lady's staff and social functions."

In a statement, the WHHA said that after the ballroom construction was announced over the summer, it "supported the preservation of East Wing history through a comprehensive digital scanning project and photography to create an historic record."

"The East Wing and gardens have been captured in detail for the benefit of our nation and historic artifacts from the East Wing have been preserved and stored," the WHHA said. 

—Brett Samuels contributed.