Satellite shows what’s really happening at the East Wing of the White House

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, shared a different view in an interview with Fox News earlier this week.

“I believe there is a lot of false outrage right now because almost every president who has lived in this beautiful White House behind me has done their own modernizations and renovations,” Leavitt said.

An official White House fact sheet released Tuesday used similar sensationalist language, accusing “unhinged leftists and their fake news allies” of “clinging to President Donald J. Trump’s visionary addition of a privately financed grand ballroom to the White House.”

It’s true that each president has left his or her own mark on the White House, but any updates cost at least an order of magnitude less than Trump’s ballroom. Most were just simple redecoration, and none were as destructive as this week’s teardown. Former President Barack Obama repainted the lines of the White House tennis court and installed hoops to transform it into a basketball court. During the administration of George W. Bush, the White House press briefing room underwent a major transformation. Taxpayers and media companies shared the bill. It’s hard to imagine this happening today.

Former President Gerald Ford built an outdoor swimming pool near the West Wing. Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy spearheaded the redesign of the White House Rose Garden and East Garden, which were later renamed in her honor. The grass in the rose garden was covered with stone slabs earlier this year and the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden was razed this week, also making it possible to see the results from space.

In July, Leavitt said the East Wing would be “modernized.” Like Trump, she did not mention the demolition plans, saying only: “The necessary construction will take place.”

Thanks to satellites and commercial space, we now know what the necessary construction actually meant.