WASHINGTON – The East Wing of the White House was completely demolished Thursday, a White House official said, as work progresses to build President Donald Trump’s new ballroom.
The project is a significant expansion of what Trump said over the summer.
“It will not interfere with the current building,” Trump said on July 31. “It will be close but not touching, and totally respects the existing building, of which I am the biggest fan.”
Trump said Wednesday that the project would cost approximately $300 million, paid for by donors including himself. It has also said that it will have capacity for 999 people.
It is the biggest change to the exterior of the White House since President Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded the East Wing, which traditionally houses the first lady’s office, in 1942.
Trump hosted a dinner in the East Room on Wednesday night to thank the corporations and individuals who contributed. (Comcast Corp., the parent company of NBCUniversal, is one of the donors.)
Below is the list of donors for the new ballroom, provided by the White House. It is unclear how much each corporation or individual contributed:
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J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
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Adelson Family Foundation
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Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
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Carlos and Marissa Cascarilla
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The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
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Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com