White House Media: President Weighs Relocation of Press Corps

President Donald Trump indicated on Friday that he may move the White House press corps to a new site.

The president wrote on Truth Social that he is considering relocating the journalists to a less obnoxious location. He explicitly rejected media reports claiming he planned to remove the current briefing room to restore a historic swimming pool beneath it, dismissing those accounts as fake news.

The potential move follows a report by The New York Times on Tuesday. The newspaper stated that Trump had previously discussed the idea with former press secretary Karoline Leavitt. According to the report, the proposal did not gain traction during her tenure, which concluded on August 27.

Leavitt addressed the pool restoration on Friday during an interview on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher. She said the president was flirting with the idea of bringing the pool back to all of its glory, though she noted uncertainty about whether he will follow through. The pool was built in 1933 for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who used it to manage pain from polio. President Richard Nixon covered the pool with a floor in the 1970s to create space for the press briefing room.

The comments come as tensions rise between the administration and the media. Last month, Trump barred reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO from entering the White House. A federal judge recently ruled that order likely unconstitutional, forcing the administration to restore access, though the White House is contesting the decision. On Tuesday, Trump also criticized The Independent’s White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg, during an Oval Office event. Trump asked Feinberg what was wrong with him, suggesting the journalist might be a sick person.

Any changes to the briefing room would join other physical modifications to the White House property since Trump returned to power in 2025. The administration has demolished the East Wing to build a new ballroom, installed concrete pavers in the center of the Rose Garden, and constructed a helipad on the South Lawn. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the potential relocation.