President Donald Trump said he is considering moving the White House press corps out of its longtime briefing room and putting the space to a different use. He also rejected reports that the room would become a swimming pool.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump wrote that he is "not building a swimming pool in the White House Briefing Room, and never had any intention of doing so." He added that he is "thinking about moving the Press, and putting them in a different location, but I will use that location for very badly needed space." He did not say in the post what the space would be used for.
The remarks followed a report by The New York Times on Oct. 20 that Trump had discussed replacing the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room with an indoor swimming pool. When Fox News Digital asked the White House for further comment, it pointed to the president's Sunday post.
A day earlier, in a separate Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump had dismissed the pool reports and said he would never consider doing "such a stupid thing." He described the story as a "Fake News report" claiming he would remove the press room and bring back the old swimming pool that lies directly beneath it. "Although I may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location," he wrote, "the old swimming pool will never be brought back."
The White House indoor pool opened on June 2, 1933. According to the White House Historical Association, it followed a fundraising campaign led by the New York Daily News to provide a pool for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt had polio and regularly swam in therapy pools at his home in Hyde Park or at a rehabilitation center in Warm Springs, Georgia.
Later, to meet growing demand for television news, President Richard M. Nixon arranged for a press briefing room to be built above the old pool.
Trump has been vocal about the ongoing work at the White House. At a rally in Florida last Friday, he said his administration is "building some beautiful things." He also personally paid to install two 88-foot-tall flagpoles at the White House last July.
The renovations have drawn criticism from Democratic Party leaders and left-leaning media personalities. The sharpest criticism came in October 2025, when ground was broken for the new White House ballroom.
