Trump Eyes White House Roof in Odd Follow-Up to His Wandering
The 79-year-old president has already made some radical changes to the building.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Donald Trump apparently isn’t done casing the White House roof.
Days after he went on a bizarre rooftop stroll and joked with reporters about installing nuclear missiles up there, Fox News filmed the 79-year-old president pointing and gesturing out a residence window toward the roof.
Last week, Trump vaguely told reporters he was “just taking a little walk” and “looking for more ways to spend my money for the country.”
Those comments prompted some journalists to speculate that Sunday’s video showed Trump strategizing his latest White House renovation. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
President Trump spotted looking onto the White House roof from a residence window. pic.twitter.com/LmmpC3K7fT
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 10, 2025
Trump has spent the past few months remaking the People’s House in Mar-a-Lago’s gaudy image. Last week, workers finished paving over the Rose Garden lawn, replacing the iconic grassy expanse with plain white concrete slabs.
The Rose Garden, located along the West Wing, has long been used for press conferences, bill signings, formal dinners, and other events.
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It was originally created in 1903 by former First Lady Edith Roosevelt and redesigned for President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy during the early 1960s.
President Trump has complained that women's high heels got stuck in the iconic Rose Garden lawn.
Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images
President Trump paved over the Rose Garden lawn and put plain white pavers and patio furniture.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
According to Trump, the lawn had to go because women’s high heels got stuck in the grass.
The president also added white patio furniture and yellow-and-white striped umbrellas that look identical to the outdoor furniture at the president’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
A spokesperson for the White House previously told the Daily Beast, “President Trump is a builder at heart, and wants to make the White House as exceptional as possible for generations of Americans to come.”
President Trump paved over 100 years of history when he wiped out the Rose Garden lawn. Here, President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale are pictured speaking in the Rose Garden.
White House via CNP/Getty Images
Jacqueline Kennedy introduces her son, John to the Empress Farah (left) as the First Lady takes the wife of the Shah of Iran on a tour of the white House grounds.
Bettmann/Bettmann Archive
“The renovation of the Rose Garden is just one of many projects the President is undertaking to improve the White House complex and make it even more beautiful,” spokesperson Davis Ingle added.
Trump has also announced plans for a 90,000-square-foot expansion of the East Wing that will house an opulent new ballroom, similar to the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago.
The expansion is expected to cost about $200 million, paid for by Trump and other “patriot donors,” according to a White House news release.
Trump further indicated on Tuesday that “something beautiful” was in the works that would go “with the ballroom,” but he declined to say what it was.
Considering Trump’s private properties have been raking in record fees as crypto executives, business leaders, and pardon seekers flock to the clubs in an attempt to curry favor with the president, the symbolism of Trump’s White House Mar-a-Lago-fication effort has been difficult to ignore.
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