Donald Trump is considering another ambitious project for the White House. After the ballroom and helipad, the president is eyeing an indoor swimming pool in place of the press conference room. This move would have a dual effect: providing Pennsylvania Avenue with a useful new facility and, more importantly, driving the media out of the White House, thus continuing his relentless battle against what he considers "fake news" and "enemies of the people." Trump has long toyed with the idea, having floated it unsuccessfully during his first term.
In recent months, he posted a photo on his social media account, Truth, with two images: one showing the press room and the other showing a swimming pool in its place. The idea has recently been brought up several times, most recently in August, to former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, but to no avail. Leavitt resigned at the end of August. The tycoon's plans include restoring the swimming pool, built in 1933 by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to its former splendor. Richard Nixon emptied it and covered it to make room for the growing number of journalists covering the White House. Initially, it served as a relaxation room and office for reporters, where press officers held briefings. In 1981, Ronald Reagan converted it into a full-fledged press room, with a low stage at the west end and permanent seating. In 2000, Bill Clinton named it after James S. Brady, Reagan's spokesman, who was paralyzed and injured by John Hinckley Jr., the man who attempted to assassinate the then-president.
The closure of the Jams S. Brady Briefing Room would lead to the removal of journalists from the White House, a goal Trump has long pursued in various forms. He has gone from insults, such as those of recent Tuesdays in the Oval Office directed at a reporter from the British Independent—"Are you sick?" he angrily asked—to banning certain media outlets from accessing the White House. Among them is CNN, which has threatened further legal action if Trump continues to bar it from Air Force One. The pool could open a new front of conflict that will be difficult to reverse even for a new president, effectively undermining the importance that has always been placed on the president's closeness to a free press within a constitutional democracy.
