The Treasury Department instructed employees not to share photos of the White House East Wing demolition after images of the work went viral online, according to a report.
Treasury employees were warned Monday night to refrain from photographing or sharing images of the East Wing construction without prior approval from the department’s Office of Public Affairs, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
Treasury’s headquarters sits adjacent to the East Wing, offering staff a close view of the heavy machinery dismantling the building’s facade.
“As construction proceeds on the White House grounds, employees should refrain from taking and sharing photographs of the grounds, to include the East Wing, without prior approval,” the internal email read, according to The Journal.
Newsmax reached out to the White House for comment.
A Treasury spokesman said the directive was intended to prevent the release of “sensitive items, including security features or confidential structural details.”
The email came hours after viral social media posts showed excavators tearing into the East Wing at the start of President Donald Trump’s $250 million plan to build a massive new ballroom.
The project, privately funded by donors, will replace portions of the East Wing with what Trump has called a “grand entertaining space for dignitaries.”
During an event Monday at the White House, Trump told guests, “We have a lot of construction going on, which you might hear periodically. It just started today.”
The new ballroom, he said, will finally realize what “every president for more than 150 years has dreamed about.”
White House officials said the structure will cover at least 90,000 square feet and seat more than 650 people.
That is triple the size of the East Room, currently the largest space inside the White House.
Trump later wrote on Truth Social that he was “honored to be the first President to finally get this much-needed project underway.”
The New York Times described the demolition as one of the most dramatic overhauls of the White House in decades, comparing its scale to President Harry S. Truman’s postwar reconstruction.
Reporters near the site watched construction crews strip walls from the East Wing, leaving rubble, window frames, and wiring scattered on the lawn.
The East Wing has historically been the domain of the first lady’s offices.
According to The Times, members of Melania Trump’s staff had already begun moving their belongings elsewhere within the White House complex in anticipation of the disruption.
The White House had not yet obtained approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees major federal construction projects in Washington.
However, administration officials have insisted the work does not need approval from the commission for the demolition work, only for new construction.
The panel’s chair, Will Scharf, has not commented, and its offices remain closed due to the ongoing government shutdown. Scharf also serves as the White House staff secretary.
Trump, a former real estate developer, has long prided himself on reshaping his surroundings.
The new East Wing ballroom, like the gilded Oval Office and revamped Rose Garden before it, may become one of the most visible symbols of how he has remade Washington.
The Associated Press contributed this report.
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