Trump Weighs Moving Press Out of White House

President Donald Trump repeatedly pressed aides in August to remove reporters from the White House briefing room and restore the former indoor pool beneath it, according to The New York Times and Yahoo News, in a move that would sharply escalate his administration's conflict with the press.

According to The New York Times, Trump raised the idea during one of Karoline Leavitt's final Oval Office meetings before she stepped down as White House press secretary on Aug. 27. The paper said he presented the proposal in front of several senior aides and had discussed it with her multiple times over months.

According to The New York Times, Trump wants to bring back the indoor pool installed for President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 for therapy related to polio. The space was later covered during President Richard Nixon's administration to create room for the press briefing area and connected work space used by credentialed journalists.

The proposal never advanced while Leavitt was in office. Still, The New York Times reported that some people close to Trump now support shifting journalists out of the White House, with the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street seen as a possible alternative location.

"last legacy" Trump told Karoline Leavitt, according to The New York Times.

The idea has circulated around Trump before, dating to his first term, according to The New York Times. Yahoo News also reported that he posted images on Truth Social in September contrasting the current briefing room, labeled for criticism of the media, with a gold-colored version of a restored pool.

Yahoo News reported that advisers had previously resisted the plan because of logistical complications and the risk of political fallout. The outlet said Trump now has more backing inside his orbit for the concept than he did earlier.

"All options remain on the table, and we will make an announcement when appropriate," Steven Cheung, White House communications director, told The New York Times, as quoted by Yahoo News.

The debate comes after a series of disputes over media access. Yahoo News reported that Trump barred CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House in September, before a federal judge ordered access restored on First Amendment grounds.

That confrontation widened earlier this month, when the Justice Department opened an antitrust investigation into five major television networks after they temporarily suspended White House pool coverage in protest of the restrictions, according to Yahoo News.

On Oct. 20, a separate White House pool report distributed by the Office of Communications showed reporters still waiting outside the White House as Trump departed at 5:21 p.m. and boarded Marine One at 5:25 p.m. for travel to North Carolina.