Trump Wants to Boot Press Briefing Room For Indoor Swimming Pool in Latest White House Makeover, Per Report
President Donald Trump wants to turn the White House briefing room into a swimming pool.
Oct. 21 2026, Published 1:15 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump is reportedly pushing to remove reporters from the White House briefing room, urging aides to relocate journalists so the space can be restored as an indoor swimming pool, RadarOnline can report.
In late August, Trump pressed then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt to move the press corps out of the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, calling it her “last legacy.”
Restoring FDR's Pool
The press briefing room was originally a swimming pool.
According to three people familiar with the discussions, the 80-year-old raised the idea with Leavitt several times over a period of months.
Leavitt stepped down on August 27 without implementing the plan. Trump has told aides he wants to bring back the indoor swimming pool that President Franklin D. Roosevelt installed in 1933 for polio therapy.
President Richard Nixon later covered the pool to create the modern briefing room.
Where the Press Would Go?
The suggested plan would push the press to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Relocating the press would free the space for the restoration Trump reportedly prefers. Journalists currently work in a small office area connected to the briefing room.
One option under discussion would move them across the street to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is across the street from the White House. However, the bigger issue is whether reporters would lose access, proximity, and the ability to question officials in person.
Such a shift would place the working press outside the West Wing and farther from the daily operations of the presidency.
An Idea That Never Fully Died
The idea first surfaced during Trump's first term.
The proposal first surfaced during Trump’s first term and was never completely abandoned. A growing number of people around the president now favor it.
Some allies view the move as another escalation in Trump’s long-running campaign against the media, seeing it as part of a series of actions that have gone further than many initially expected.
The physical presence of the press near the center of executive power has long symbolized the role of a free press in a constitutional democracy.
Support for relocating the press has expanded among Trump’s allies. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte prepared a visual mock-up of the proposed pool, even though White House facilities fall outside his portfolio. White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told a publication, "All options remain on the table, and we will make an announcement when appropriate."
Trump's Attack On Free Press
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Trump has a long history of being combative against the press.
The proposal arrives amid continued friction between Trump and the press corps.
As Radar previously reported, Trump's failed attempts to ban media outlets like CNN, Politico and MS NOW from covering his direct diplomatic events had only unified several outlets, including Fox News.
A federal judge also blocked an administration effort to bar the aforementioned outlets from the White House.
On Tuesday, October 20, reporter Andrew Feinberg questioned Trump about a whistleblower program that offers a 1 percent commission, noting that the False Claims Act typically awards at least 10 percent.
Trump told him to "be careful" and later asked, “What’s wrong with you?”
Vice President JD Vance defended the president, calling Feinberg’s question "fundamentally dishonest."
