Trump moves to make Oval Office a national monument aiming to prevent future major changes

President Donald Trump has made his mark on the White House in many ways -- including the massive ballroom construction project and the several gold touches he's added throughout the West Wing.

Fresh off a midterm election defeat, Trump signed a proclamation Thursday aiming to prevent future presidents from making major changes to the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room.

"We've had tremendous victory in this office," Trump said. "So we're making it a national monument, and it will not be allowed to be touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people, in order to build something in a slightly different shape."

The proclamation designates the Oval Office, the outer Oval Office and the Cabinet Room as a national monument, which Trump said will make them "impossible to knock down and change in any meaningful way."

Trump said the interior of the Cabinet Room, which serves as a meeting room for the president and his top advisers, is "pretty much the same" as before, but he also said it has been "substantially upgraded" and that he added new chandeliers.

Trump also said "no major modification" will take place to the Cabinet Room or Oval Office "without the approval of Congress."

The president indicated that the proclamation he signed declaring the rooms national monuments would have to be sent to Congress to be ratified. 

"So we're going to be declaring it a national monument, and we're going to send it over to Congress, have it ratified," he said.

Asked by a reporter asked whether a future president could remove the gold accents that the president has hung in the Oval Office, Trump indicated that a future leader could, but "very carefully." 

In October 2025, Trump himself made major structural changes to the White House, tearing down the East Wing with little notice or oversight, as part of the plan to build the White House ballroom. 

Construction has continued since then, drastically changing the White House grounds. On Wednesday, speaking publicly for the first time following the GOP's midterm losses, Trump touted the ballroom project as he invited reporters to the construction site to witness the raising of the final beam.

At the Wednesday event, Trump acknowledged the criticism he has received for focusing his attention on the White House projects.

"And you know, when I get criticized, like, 'Why are you working on the White House?' I'm doing it because the White House is the ultimate symbol of America, and it's got to be pristine," Trump said.