Trump says he may move press corps but denies plan to restore White House pool
The U.S. president denied reports he would remove the White House briefing room to bring back an old swimming pool, but said reporters could be moved to another location.
Archive image · Photo: Kellerbn at English Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5 (cropped and resized)
President Donald Trump on Saturday denied reports that he planned to remove the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House to restore the swimming pool beneath it. "I NEVER even thought to do such a stupid thing!" he wrote on Truth Social. But he added: "Although I may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location, the old swimming pool will never be brought back." He did not say where reporters might go.
The pool was installed in 1933 for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who used it for therapy after contracting polio. Richard Nixon had it covered in 1970 to make room for the growing press corps, and the empty pool remains beneath the floor.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump had discussed moving the press corps with then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt and told aides he wanted to restore the Roosevelt-era pool. Communications director Steven Cheung did not deny it, saying "all options remain on the table," according to TheWrap. In September, Trump himself shared an image labelling the room "Fake News, Before" and a pool "FDR Pool After." WION said a federal judge temporarily blocked access restrictions on CNN, MS NOW and Politico.