Trump Denies Plan To Bring Back White House Swimming Pool Amid Raging Press Access Battle

President Trump is refuting a report claiming he intends to tear out the White House press briefing room and replace it with an indoor swimming pool, though he acknowledged he may relocate reporters to “a less obnoxious location.”The denial came in response to a report from The New York Times, which said Mr. Trump had told aides he wanted to restore an indoor pool originally installed in 1933 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. That pool was covered over during the Nixon administration to make room for the briefing room reporters use today.“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,” Mr. Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social. “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!”The episode lands amid a broader pattern of friction between the administration and the press corps. This week, the White House pulled the Independent’s Andrew Feinberg from his print pool duties and barred him from traveling with the president after Mr. Trump criticized the reporter during an Oval Office exchange. The White House Correspondents’ Association president, Jacqui Heinrich, called the move “retaliation,” saying, “The American public’s right to an independent press depends on reporters being able to do their jobs without fear that challenging the president will cut off their access.”A White House spokesman defended the decision in a statement to The Hill: “No person and no journalist has a constitutional right to access the President’s Oval Office, Air Force One, or other sensitive and private facilities. When publications lie, fabricate, and ignore the truth, proximity matters less, and they can write their fiction from outside of these secure facilities.”The administration has also targeted larger outlets. Last month, Mr. Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House entirely, a move that also stripped CNN of its Air Force One access during a trip to the United Nations General Assembly. A federal judge ordered the credentials restored, ruling that the bans lacked “constitutionally adequate due process,” but CNN has continued to face intermittent restrictions, including being blocked from flying aboard Air Force One again last week for a presidential trip to Tennessee.The idea of relocating the press has reportedly circulated inside the West Wing for months. The Times piece quoted multiple people familiar with internal discussions saying Mr. Trump raised the proposal repeatedly with former press secretary Karoline Leavitt before she departed the role in August, telling her it could be her “last legacy.” The plan never advanced.If the plan moves forward, it wouldn’t be the first time a president reshaped the press’ physical footprint at the White House. In 2007, President George W. Bush closed the briefing room for an 11-month, multimillion-dollar renovation that modernized the cramped, aging space — stripping out asbestos and outdated infrastructure while reporters worked from a temporary facility across the street.

Trump Denies Plan To Bring Back White House Swimming Pool Amid Raging Press Access Battle

Trump Denies Plan To Bring Back White House Swimming Pool Amid Raging Press Access Battle

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