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President Donald Trump is considering giving the White House press corps the boot from its longtime briefing room — and has another use in mind for the space that doesn’t involve the swimming pool he insists was never on the table.
Trump said Sunday he is thinking about relocating reporters to make room for other White House needs, a day after suggesting the press could be moved to a “less obnoxious location.”
“I am not building a swimming pool in the White House Briefing Room, and never had any intention of doing so,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I am thinking about moving the Press, and putting them in a different location, but I will use that location for very badly needed space.”
The president’s comments come after The New York Times reported on Oct. 20 that Trump had discussed replacing the White House’s James S. Brady Press Briefing Room with an indoor swimming pool.
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President Donald Trump spoke during a news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on April 6, 2026, in Washington, D.C., where he warned journalists against publishing details of a U.S. military raid to rescue two airmen shot down over Iran, saying such reporting could jeopardize operations. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When reached for additional comment, the White House referred Fox News Digital to Trump’s Sunday Truth Social post.
In a separate Truth Social post published Saturday, Trump shot down reports he planned to build a swimming pool, insisting he would never consider doing “such a stupid thing.”
“There is a Fake News report out there that I am going to remove the White House Press Room and bring back the old Swimming Pool, which lies directly underneath,” Trump wrote in the social media post. “Although I may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location, the old swimming pool will never be brought back.”
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters during a press briefing at the White House, on the one-year mark into his second term in office, in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 20, 2026. (Jessica Koscielniak/Reuters)
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The White House’s indoor swimming pool opened on June 2, 1933, following a New York Daily News campaign to raise funds for a pool for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had polio and regularly swam in therapy pools at his Hyde Park home or at a rehabilitation center in Warm Springs, Georgia, according to the White House Historical Association.
To meet the growing demand for television news, President Richard M. Nixon later arranged for a press briefing room to be constructed above the old pool.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 16, 2026. (photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)
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Trump touted the ongoing renovations to the White House during a rally in Florida last Friday, saying his administration is “building some beautiful things.” He also personally paid to install two massive 88-foot-tall American flags at the White House last July.
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Democratic Party leaders and left-leaning media personalities have blasted Trump over various renovations on Pennsylvania Ave, most notably in October 2025 when ground was broken for the new White House ballroom.