The hosts of MSNBC's Morning Joe tore into Donald Trump for taking 'a wrecking ball' to the White House, after crews were seen demolishing portions of the East Wing.
'I’m going to say, Mika, it is hard to watch that,' Joe Scarborough told his wife and cohost Mika Brzezinski as he reacted to construction equipment tearing into the building's façade.
'It’s hard to believe that any president could destroy the White House and take a wrecking ball to an existing structure so historic - that is what’s happening,' Scarborough said.
Photos from Monday showed a backhoe ripping into a once-pristine portion of the East Wing that has formed part of the White House complex for more than a century.
The work is being done to make way for Trump's gilded $250 million ballroom.
'It would be one thing if you were building on or you were doing things inside, but to take literally a wrecking ball to the White House - it’s grotesque. Just grotesque!' Scarborough continued.
Brzezinski agreed, mentioning last month's makeover to the White House Rose Garden that saw a section of grass paved and replaced with a 'Presidential Walk of Fame.'
'Which you could argue-' Brzezinski began, before Scarborough jumped in.
'Well, far different, yeah,' he said, noting the new project sets a far more precarious precedent.
Morning Joe hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough slammed Donald Trump on Tuesdayafter the president confirmed new construction on the White House's East Wing
The building laid in tatters Monday as construction crews took it apart with a backhoe
'But I mean, this is painful,' Brzezinski said. 'I mean, this historic structure.'
'It's history being torn to shreds,' Scarborough said.
'If somebody wants to go into the White House, the next person wants to just knock down all the walls and turn it into a disco, Congress can’t do anything? I mean.
'Seriously - you’re destroying, like, one of the most historic structures on the planet.'
'Yeah. And the cost,' Brzezinski noted.
Scarborough continued: 'And are we saying that whoever we elect president has the right to destroy? Like what? What? Just just tear things up? Tear it to the ground and just turn it into something else? Kind of crazy.'
'I don't think- it’s not your home that you purchased in Jersey,' Brzezinski said.
'No, it’s not yours, you rent it from the American people for four years,' Scarborough concluded.
Trump said the construction is meant to 'modernize' the building's ballroom. The White House has said it will disclose information on who has contributed money to build the ballroom, but has yet to do so. He announced the project in July
The White House released visuals of the new ballroom back in July. The current East Wing of the White House will be 'modernized' and 90,000 square feet of new space. The building traditionally serves as the base of operations for the first lady
Hours earlier, the president took to Truth Social to promote the project, which he said is meant to 'modernize' the building's ballroom. The building usually serves as the base of operations for the first lady.
It laid in tatters Monday as constructions crews took it apart.
The White House has yet disclose information on who has contributed money to the project, which was announced in July. At the time, the president promised the ballroom would not interfere with the mansion itself.
The National Capital Planning Commission that approves construction work and major renovations to government buildings in the Washington area has also yet to sign off on the construction.
