President Donald Trump has said he may move the White House press corps out of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room and into a “less obnoxious location.”
The president was responding to reports that he wants to restore the old swimming pool beneath the current briefing room.
While he called reports about bringing back the pool “fake news,” he kept the door open to giving the media the boot.
In a post to Truth Social on Saturday night, Trump wrote:
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. Although I may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location, the old swimming pool will never be brought back. I NEVER even thought to do such a stupid thing! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT
The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing three sources, that Trump had pitched the idea multiple times to then-Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, including in one of her final Oval Office meetings in late August, telling her it could be her “last legacy.”
Leavitt left the administration on August 27.
The Times said Trump told aides he preferred restoring the indoor therapy pool installed in 1933 for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who used it for polio treatment.
Richard Nixon’s administration later covered the pool with a floor to create space for the expanding press corps.
Trump posted side-by-side images on Truth Social in late September showing the current briefing room labeled “Fake News” next to a gilded pool labeled “FDR Pool.”
Former Press Secretary Leavitt confirmed on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher that Trump had been “flirting” with the idea.
“It was a swimming pool at one time. In fact, if you go down the stairs, underneath where the briefing room is, you can actually see the tile from where the pool used to be,” she said, adding that she did not know if he would follow through.
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