Trump floats moving White House reporters to a new site

The White House press corps has operated from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room for decades, but President Donald Trump is now questioning whether that arrangement should continue. In a post on Truth Social on Friday, the president indicated that he might move the reporters to a different location.

Trump described the potential new site as a less obnoxious location. He wrote the comment while responding to media coverage about the future of the current briefing space. The president rejected the idea that he wanted to demolish the room to uncover a historical swimming pool beneath it. He called those accounts fake news and stated that he had never considered such a thing.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump had discussed moving journalists out of the Brady room with Karoline Leavitt, his former press secretary. Leavitt served in the role until August 27. The newspaper noted that the idea did not gain traction during her time in the position.

The pool in question was installed in 1933 for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who used it to manage pain from polio. Richard Nixon covered the pool with a floor in the 1970s to create the briefing room. Leavitt appeared on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday and said Trump was flirting with the idea of restoring the pool. She said she did not know if he would follow through.

The comments come as tensions rise between the administration and the media. Last month, Trump barred reporters from CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO from the White House. A federal judge ruled the order likely unconstitutional, forcing the White House to restore their access. The administration is still challenging that decision.

Trump also criticized Andrew Feinberg, a White House correspondent for The Independent, during an Oval Office event on Tuesday. The president asked what was wrong with Feinberg as the reporter attempted to ask a question. The White House shared the interaction on social media. Any changes to the briefing room would follow other modifications to the property, including the demolition of the East Wing for a new ballroom and the construction of a helipad on the South Lawn.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the potential move.