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White House East Wing: See Before Trump’s Renovations, and Plans for His Ballroom

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White House East Wing: See Before Trump’s Renovations, and Plans for His Ballroom

When President Trump first announced his plans for a ballroom at the White House, he promised a light touch on the structure. Now the East Wing is slated to be completely torn down.

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The top diagram of the White House is based on an aerial view from Google Earth. In the bottom diagram is a photograph of a physical model taken by Doug Mills. The New York Times

During an Oval Office meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Trump showed off a model of the White House with the new ballroom, along with recent drawings of the ballroom itself. On the other end of the White House grounds, demolition of the East Wing continued.

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Jiawei Wang/The New York Times

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Mr. Trump said that to build the ballroom properly, the existing structure had to come down, despite his previous statements. The East Wing housed the White House visitors office and offices for the first lady and her staff.

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Doug Mills/The New York Times

Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Doug Mills/The New York Times

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Much is still unknown about the renovation process and what the final ballroom will look like, and the project has not gone through the review process that White House renovations typically do. The process of tearing down the East Wing was expected to be completed as soon as this weekend, according to administration officials.

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Federal immigration enforcement surge is now paused in East Bay too, Oakland mayor says

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Federal immigration enforcement surge is now paused in East Bay too, Oakland mayor says

A planned increase in federal immigration enforcement in the Bay Area is now on pause throughout the region and in major East Bay cities, not just in San Francisco, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said Friday.

Lee said in a statement that Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez had “confirmed through her communications” with federal immigration officials that the planned operations were “cancelled for the greater Bay Area — which includes Oakland — at this time.”

The announcement followed lingering concerns about ramped up immigration enforcement among East Bay leaders after President Trump and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced Thursday that a planned “surge” had been called off in San Francisco.

Trump and Lurie had very specifically addressed San Francisco, even as additional Border Patrol agents were being staged across the bay on Coast Guard Island, which is in the waters between Alameda and Oakland.

At a press conference following Trump’s annoucement about San Francisco, Lee had said the situation remained “fluid,” that she had received no such assurances about the East Bay and that Oakland was continuing to prepare for enhanced immigration enforcement in the region.

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Alameda County Dist. Atty. Ursula Jones Dickson had previously warned that the announced stand down in San Francisco could be a sign the administration was looking to focus on Oakland instead — and make an example of it.

“We know that they’re baiting Oakland, and that’s why San Francisco, all of a sudden, is off the table,” Jones Dickson said Thursday morning. “So I’m not going to be quiet about what we know is coming. We know that their expectation is that Oakland is going to do something to cause them to make us the example.”

The White House on Friday directed questions about the scope of the pause in operations and whether it applied to the East Bay to the Department of Homeland Security, which referred The Times back to Trump’s statement about San Francisco on Friday — despite its making no mention of the East Bay or Oakland.

In that statement, posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump had written that a “surge” had been planned for San Francisco starting Saturday, but that he had called it off after speaking to Lurie.

Trump said Lurie had asked “very nicely” that Trump “give him a chance to see if he can turn it around” in the city, and that business leaders — including Jensen Huang of Nvidia and Marc Benioff of Salesforce — had expressed confidence in Lurie.

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Trump said he told Lurie that it would be “easier” to make San Francisco safer if federal forces were sent in, but told him, “let’s see how you do.”

Lurie in recent days has touted falling crime rates and numbers of homeless encampments in the city, and said in his own announcement of the stand down that he had told Trump that San Francisco was “on the rise” and that “having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery.”

In California and elsewhere, the Trump administration has aggressively sought to expand the reach and authority of the Border Patrol and federal immigration agents. Last month, the DOJ fired its top prosecutor in Sacramento after she told Gregory Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, that he could not carry out indiscriminate immigration raids around Sacramento this summer.

In Oakland on Thursday, the planned surge in enforcement had sparked protests near the entrance to Coast Guard Island, and drew widespread condemnation from local liberal officials and immigrant advocacy organizations.

On Thursday night, security officers at the base opened fire on the driver of a U-Haul truck who was reversing the truck toward them, wounding the driver and a civilian nearby. The FBI is investigating that incident.

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Some liberal officials had warned that federal agents who violated the rights of Californians could face consequences — even possible arrest — from local law enforcement, which drew condemnation from federal officials.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche responded with a scathing letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and others on Thursday in which he wrote that any attempt by local law enforcement to arrest federal officers doing their jobs would be viewed by the Justice Department as “both illegal and futile” and as part of a “criminal conspiracy.”

Blanche wrote that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution precludes any federal law enforcement official to be “held on a state criminal charge where the alleged crime arose during the performance of his federal duties,” and that the Justice Department would pursue legal action against any state officials who advocate for such enforcement.

“In the meantime, federal agents and officers will continue to enforce federal law and will not be deterred by the threat of arrest by California authorities who have abdicated their duty to protect their constituents,” Blanche wrote.

The threat of arrest for federal officers had originated in part with San Francisco Dist. Atty. Brooke Jenkins, who had written on social media that if federal agents “come to San Francisco and illegally harass our residents … I will not hesitate to do my job and hold you accountable just like I do other violators of the law every single day.”

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Video: Bay Area Protesters Try to Block Base Entrance Before Immigration Operation

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Video: Bay Area Protesters Try to Block Base Entrance Before Immigration Operation

new video loaded: Bay Area Protesters Try to Block Base Entrance Before Immigration Operation

On Thursday, about 200 people attempted to block vehicles from entering a Coast Guard base in Alameda, Calif., which federal officials were planning on using for upcoming raids. President Trump later called off the operation.

By Jamie Leventhal

October 23, 2025

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Grassley releases memo showing DOJ ‘unleashed unchecked government power’ on Trump associates

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Grassley releases memo showing DOJ ‘unleashed unchecked government power’ on Trump associates

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Thursday released an April 2022 Justice Department memo showing then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, then-Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and then-FBI Director Christopher Wray personally approved an FBI investigation into alleged efforts by Trump campaign associates to obstruct Congress’ certification of the 2020 election.

Grassley posted the four-page memorandum on X, saying it proves top Biden administration officials “personally approved” the case — which he referred to as “Arctic Frost” — and that it “unleashed unchecked government power at the highest levels.”

The Iowa Republican added, “My oversight will continue.”

The April 2022 memo, signed by Garland, Monaco, and Wray, authorized the FBI’s Washington Field Office to open what the bureau designated a “Sensitive Investigative Matter.” The document details the FBI’s request to examine whether individuals connected to Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign conspired to obstruct Congress’ certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6, 2021.

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TOP GOP SENATOR DEMANDS PROBE INTO WHETHER JACK SMITH ‘UNLAWFULLY’ TRIED TO INFLUENCE 2024 ELECTION

“Following the 2020 Presidential and Vice Presidential election, in an apparent effort to obstruct Congress’s certification of Electoral College, fraudulent certificates of electors’ votes were submitted to the Archivist of the United States, purporting to represent the actual elector votes from the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin,” the executive summary reads. “Open source reporting and public statements made by individuals closely associated with Donald J. Trump, Inc. (Trump Campaign) present an articulable factual basis indicating the existence of a federal crime, and thus the FBI seeks to open a full investigation.

“Because this investigation involves a SIM as set forth in the Department of Justice memorandum dated February 5, 2020, entitled ‘Additional Requirements for Opening of Certain Sensitive Investigations’ (DOJ Memo), your authorization is required before WFO may initiate this full investigation,” the document continued.

Monaco wrote at the bottom of the document, “Merrick- I recommend you approve,” before initialing and dating it 4/5/22. Garland ultimately signed off on the investigation on the same day.

DEM REP DEFENDS DOJ OBTAINING GOP SENATOR CALL RECORDS IN 2023: ‘YOU WEREN’T SURVEILLED’

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Sen. Chuck Grassley released a memo from former FBI Director Christopher Wray to former Attorney General Merrick Garland to open an investigation into the Trump Campaign in April 2022, for allegedly attempting to interfere with Congress’ certification of the 2020 election. (Samuel Corum-Pool, Anna Moneymaker and Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images)

The authorization came more than a year after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and months before now-former Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed to oversee related investigations. The memo appears to document an early stage of the Justice Department’s examination of the so-called “fake electors” effort that became a focus of Smith’s probe.

In 2023, Smith subpoenaed phone records belonging to eight Republican senators and one House member, covering a four-day period — Jan. 4 to Jan. 7, 2021 — to examine call activity around the Capitol riot. The subpoenas did not seek call content but instead listed numbers, dates and durations.

The targeted senators included Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

FBI FIRES AGENTS, DISMANTLES CORRUPTION SQUAD AFTER PROBE UNVEILS MONITORING OF GOP SENATORS, PATEL SAYS

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Former Special Counsel Jack Smith speaking to the press.

Jack Smith, U.S. special counsel, speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023.  (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

In addition to the eight senators, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News’ Sean Hannity Tuesday that he recently discovered Smith also attempted to subpoena his toll records but that his phone company, AT&T, did not hand them over.

Smith said the records were narrowly tailored and “entirely proper,” adding they were meant to support his investigation into Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.

Sen. Chuck Grassley

Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025 (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

His lawyers wrote to Grassley, saying the subpoenas complied with Justice Department policy and were routine.

Republicans have broadly claimed they were inappropriately spied on and compared Arctic Frost to the Watergate scandal. Smith’s lawyers emphasized the normalcy of seeking phone records and said public officials are not immune from investigation.

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Smith’s attorneys also disputed accusations from FBI Director Kash Patel that the subpoenas were hidden, noting the requests were referenced in a footnote of Smith’s final report and shared with Trump’s defense team in discovery.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver contributed to this report.

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