WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Thursday that he said will preserve the Oval Office and Cabinet Room as a national monument, his first official action after his party was swept away in the midterm elections on Tuesday.
But the measure doesn’t stop future presidents from revamping the iconic post that Trump filled to the brim with gilded flourishes, nor does it stop his successor from walking back the proclamation itself. Trump himself inverted national monument designations made by his predecessors.
Trump, however, described the Oval Office order in effusive terms. “No one will be allowed to touch it, to destroy it, to tear it down by stupid people, in order to build something in a slightly different form,” Trump said. “We love the Oval Office, and it’s a symbol, like the White House itself.”
It was the third day this week that the president, a real estate mogul, delivered remarks obsessed with his pet projects in Washington. On Wednesday, a day after Republicans suffered defeats in key elections across the country, Trump gathered reporters to sign the final beam being elevated during the construction of his opulent ballroom project. On Monday, he visited the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to talk about its renovation of the landmark.
THE proclamation, released after Trump’s remarks, states that nothing in it will “restrict the President’s authority to redecorate the monument, select furnishings, or make ordinary operational and security changes that do not materially alter the historic structure or architectural character of the monument.”
It directs the Secretary of the Interior to manage the Oval Office and requires “documentation, review, and consideration of alternatives prior to any action that would substantially alter or demolish the monument.” Trump has separately said that any major changes would require congressional review, although such a requirement is not in the text of the document.
“If they want to say, ‘Let’s not have an oval anymore, let’s make it a square,’ what happens is they have to go back to Congress and I hope Congress, the people in Congress, are smart enough not to allow that to happen,” said Trump – who famously demolished the East Wing of the White House to make room for his ballroom.
A red baseball cap with “VETO” on the front sat on the Resolute desk as Trump signed the document, a not-so-subtle nod to the transfer of powers to Congress.
His efforts to preserve changes in the White House come as Democrats prepare for new scrutiny of Trump. Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a series of letters to known Trump ballroom donors on Thursday, demanding they provide information or face “alternative measures to achieve compliance.”
Since returning to the White House, Trump has overseen numerous changes to the design of various rooms, including the Oval Office, where he filled wall space with portraits, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and numerous gold accents.
As he discussed his interior design decisions, Trump pointed to new chandeliers that he said were installed in the Cabinet Room to address “very poor lighting.” His other additions to the Oval Office include numerous gilt wall sconces and gilt framed portraits.
Trump did not say precisely what he hoped to prevent, but suggested the Oval Office could face some threats in the future. Trump himself has been the subject of several lawsuits alleging that his plans to beautify Washington were carried out without necessary approval.
“If anyone ever decides to come and start tearing down walls, call me wherever I am,” Trump said, “and I’ll come back here and make sure that never happens.”
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