The White House fired the entire Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal panel established by Congress that is responsible for advising the federal government and the city of Washington, D.C., on construction projects.
The commission, made up of architects and urban planners, was expected to weigh in on several of President Donald Trump’s building proposals, including his new White House ballroom and an arch on federal land at the entrance to Washington’s Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River.
First reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday, the members each received termination emails Tuesday, effective immediately. The independent body was expected to review Trump’s proposed arch — colloquially referred to as the “Arc de Trump” — and members were fired after Trump disregarded them to carry out his demolition of the East Wing of the White House.
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All six members of the commission were appointed by then-President Joe Biden, and were appointed for terms extending through 2028.
“We are preparing to appoint a new slate of members to the commission that are more aligned with President Trump’s America First Policies,” a White House official said in a statement to NOTUS.
In July, the White House fired Biden appointees from the National Capital Planning Commission, another urban-planning agency that also typically reviews White House construction projects. The 12-member board is now led by Trump’s staff secretary, Will Scharf, and is made up of prominent allies.
Trump has already completed a series of renovation projects, transforming the Rose Garden into a cement-covered patio and filling nearly every wall in the Oval Office with gold-embossed trimmings.
Along the West Wing Colonnade, Trump updated the historical presidential portrait gallery to feature ornate golden frames and replaced Biden’s headshot with a photo of an autopen. Portraits of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were moved to a back stairwell.
Most notably, the White House itself is under construction after Trump expanded his original plans for a massive ballroom adjacent to the White House to a full demolition of the East Wing. The entire project is now estimated to cost upward of $300 million.
Trump has said he plans to send the ballroom plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, which will decide whether to approve the new building, and that it hasn’t done so because it doesn’t require permission for demolitions, only construction.
Trump has publicly marveled at his ability to proceed quickly with construction on the ballroom, without the usual bureaucratic approvals necessary for a project of that magnitude.
“I said, ‘How long will it take me?’” Trump told reporters, recounting a conversation he supposedly had with a White House official about starting construction. “‘Sir, you can start tonight, you have no approvals.’ I said, ‘You gotta be kidding.’ They said, ‘Sir, this is the White House. You’re the president of the United States. You can do anything you want.’”
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