熟悉该项目的消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，白宫预计整个东翼将被拆除，以便建造唐纳德·特朗普总统现在所说的他计划耗资3亿美元的舞厅。
消息人士称，东翼的拆除最快可能在本周末完成。
《纽约时报》首先报道了这一进展。
白宫没有立即回复置评请求。
美国广播公司新闻观察到多辆建筑卡车进出周三继续拆迁的地区。翻新的范围远比特朗普之前透露的要大。
尽管特朗普在7月份曾表示，舞厅不会“干扰”现有的建筑-将“靠近但不接触”-一名白宫官员向美国广播公司新闻证实，“整个东翼将被现代化。”
周三在东翼建筑工地周围可以看到一个更高的七英尺围栏，有助于阻止公众看到拆除。
周三在椭圆形办公室的一次活动中，一名记者问特朗普，为什么目前的建设与他最初宣布的不匹配，特朗普淡化了差异。
“在与世界上一些最好的建筑师进行了大量的研究后，我们决定真正推倒它，试图使用一个小部分，你知道，东翼并不多。特朗普说:“它和原版没什么区别。
“为了做好这件事，我们必须拆除现有的结构，”他说。
在宣布对俄罗斯的新制裁时，他展示了舞厅的建筑效果图，并追着一名记者问，为什么他没有在这个项目上更加透明，他坚称自己“比任何人都透明”。
“我一直不透明吗?真的吗?他说:我已经向所有愿意倾听的人展示了这一点。
尽管拆除工作已经开始，舞厅的计划还没有提交给国家首都规划委员会。一名白宫官员向美国广播公司证实，白宫仍然打算向委员会提交建造计划。
白宫历史协会表示，它“支持通过全面的数字扫描项目和摄影来保存东翼的历史，以创造历史记录。为了我们国家的利益，东翼和花园已被详细记录，东翼的历史文物已被保存和储存。”
一名白宫官员说“东翼的所有历史组成部分...在白宫历史协会的支持下，在白宫行政官邸和国家公园管理局的监督下得以保存。未来的使用计划已经就绪。”
据一位白宫官员称，第一夫人办公室和东翼的其他组件已经搬迁到白宫和艾森豪威尔行政办公楼内的白宫综合大楼。一名白宫官员向美国广播公司证实，第一夫人的办公室和工作人员在一个多月前拆迁前就搬出了该地区。
特朗普一直想在白宫建一个舞厅，类似于他在佛罗里达州Mar-a-Lago的庄园。今年夏天，9万平方英尺的舞厅实体模型揭幕，特朗普表示，建造费用将由他和身份不明的捐赠者支付。自那以后，政府很少透露到底是谁在资助这个项目，这引发了道德和法律问题。
特朗普本周早些时候表示，一旦该项目完成，人们将能够直接从白宫东厅走进舞厅，这表明建设将触及实际的白宫——特朗普本人此前曾说过不会发生的事情。
一名白宫官员表示，东翼正在对其1902年和1942年的建筑进行“现代化”，以支持舞厅项目和东翼未来的家园。这位官员说，项目的范围和规模总是随着进程的发展而变化。
本周的拆除引发了一连串的批评。
前第一夫人希拉里·克林顿周二发表评论，在X上写道，特朗普正在“摧毁”白宫。
“这不是他的房子。这是你的房子。他正在摧毁它，”克林顿写道。
国家历史保护信托基金送来了一份信致白宫工作人员秘书威尔·沙夫(Will Scharf)，特朗普还任命他负责国家首都规划委员会(National Capital Planning Commission)，这是一个提供规划指导和审查发展提案的行政分支机构，表达了对拆迁和舞厅计划的担忧，呼吁暂停。
“尽管国民托管组织承认在白宫拥有更大的会议室是有好处的，基金会主席卡罗尔·奎尔伦博士写道:“我们深感担忧的是，拟议中的新建筑的体量和高度将超过白宫本身——它有5.5万平方英尺——还可能永久性地破坏白宫及其两个较小、较低的东、西翼的精心平衡的古典设计。”
这个非营利组织敦促政府“暂停拆除，直到拟建舞厅的计划通过法律要求的公共审查程序，包括国家首都规划委员会和美术委员会的咨询和审查，并邀请公众发表意见。”
周二，白宫在冗长的新闻发布会上为新舞厅的翻新和建设进行了辩护释放;排放;发布声明该项目是“一个大胆、必要的补充，呼应了总司令改善和增加的历史，以保持行政官邸作为美国卓越的灯塔。”
白宫新闻秘书卡罗林·莱维特星期二出现在福克斯新闻频道的“杰西·沃特斯黄金时间”节目中，称这种反弹是“虚假的愤怒”，并表示过去的总统也对白宫进行了改革。
“他是首席建设者，很大程度上他被选回到这个人民的房子，因为他擅长建造东西。他的一生，他的整个职业生涯都是这样，”莱维特说。“建设是一个过程。最后，东翼是一个完全独立于我身后的行政大楼的建筑，它将比以往任何时候都更加现代和美丽。最重要的是，白宫将为未来几代美国人建造一个又大又漂亮的舞厅。”
但是根据一份来自华尔街日报的报道财政部(位于改造现场旁边)已经指示员工不要分享拆迁照片。
特朗普周二在他新装修的玫瑰园俱乐部(Rose Garden Club)招待参议院共和党人共进午餐，庆祝舞厅的建成。
“你可能会听到后面优美的建筑声。你听到了吗?特朗普说:“哦，这对我来说太好了。”。“我喜欢那个声音。别人不喜欢，我爱。”
Entire East Wing expected to be demolished as soon as this weekend, sources say
The White House expects the entire East Wing to be demolished to allow for construction of what President Donald Trump now says is his planned $300 million ballroom, sources familiar with the project told ABC News.
The East Wing demolition could be completed as soon as this weekend, the sources said.
The New York Times first reported the development.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
ABC News observed multiple construction trucks entering and exiting the area where the demolition continued on Wednesday.The renovation is far more extensive than Trump had previously let on.
While Trump had said back in July that the ballroom would not "interfere" with the existing building -- would be "near it but not touching it" -- a White House official confirmed to ABC News that the "entirety of the East Wing will be modernized."
A higher, seven-foot fence was visible Wednesday around the East Wing construction site, helping to block the demolition from public view.
Asked by a reporter during an Oval Office event on Wednesday why the current construction is not matching what he initially announced, Trump downplayed the differences.
"We determined that after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world, we determined that really knocking it down, trying to use a little section, you know, the East Wing was not much. It was not much left from the original," Trump said.
"In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure," he said.
Amid announcing new sanctions on Russia, he showed off architectural renderings of the ballroom and went after a reporter who asked why he had not been more transparent about the project, insisting he's been "more transparent than anyone's ever" been.
"I haven't been transparent? Really? I've shown -- I've shown this to everybody that would listen, he said.
Plans for the ballroom have not yet been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, despite demolition already underway. A White House official confirmed to ABC News that the White Housestill intendsto submit plans for the build to the commission.
The White House Historical Association said it "supported the preservation of East Wing history through a comprehensive digital scanning project and photography to create an historic record. The East Wing and gardens have been captured in detail for the benefit of our nation and historic artifacts from the East Wing have been preserved and stored."
A White House official said "all the historical components of the East Wing ... have been preserved and stored under the supervision of the White House Executive Residence and the National Park Service with support from the White House Historical Association. Plans are in place for future use."
The Office of the first lady and other East Wing components have been relocated on the White House complex within the White House and Eisenhower Executive Office Building, according to a White House official. The first lady's office and staff were moved out of the area over a month ago ahead of the demolition, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
Trump has long wanted to build a ballroom at the White House akin to that at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Mock-ups for the 90,000-square foot ballroom were unveiled this summer, and Trump said the build would be paid for by him and unidentified donors. The administration has said little since about who exactly is funding the project, sparking ethical and legal questions.
Trump indicated earlier this week that once the project is done, people would be able to walk directly from the White House East Room into the ballroom, suggesting theconstruction will touch the actual White House-- something Trump himself had previously said would not happen.
A White House official said the East Wing was being "modernized" from its 1902 and 1942 constructions to support the ballroom project and the future home of the East Wing. The scope and size of the project, the official said, has always been subject to change as the process developed.
The demolition this week kicked off a torrent of criticism.
Former first lady Hillary Clinton weighed in on Tuesday, writing on X that Trump is "destroying" the White House.
"It’s not his house.It’s your house.And he’s destroying it," Clinton wrote.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation sent aletterto White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf, whom Trump also appointed to head the National Capital Planning Commission, an executive branch agency that provides planning guidance and reviews development proposals, voicing concerns about the demolition and ballroom plan, calling for a pause.
"While the National Trust acknowledges the utility of a larger meeting space at the White House,we are deeply concerned that the massing and height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself -- it is 55,000 square feet -- and may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings," wrote Dr. Carol Quillen, the trust's president.
The nonprofit organization urged the administration "to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes, including consultation and review by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, and to invite comment from the public."
The White House on Tuesday defended the renovations and the construction of the new ballroom in a lengthy pressreleasestating the project is "a bold, necessary addition that echoes the storied history of improvements and additions from commanders-in-chief to keep the executive residence as a beacon of American excellence."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, appearing on Fox News "Jesse Watters Primetime" on Tuesday, called the backlash "fake outrage" and said presidents past have also made changes to the White House.
"He is the builder-in-chief, in large part he was elected back to this People's House because he is good at building things. He has done it his entire life, his entire career," Leavitt said. "And construction is a process. At the end, the East Wing which is an entirely separate structure from the Executive Mansion you see behind me, will be more modern and beautiful than ever. And then on top of that, the White House is going to have a big, beautiful ballroom for generations of Americans to come."
But according to areport from the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department (located next to the renovation site) has instructed employees not to share photos of the demolition.
Trump, hosting Senate Republicans for lunch on Tuesday at his newly-renovated Rose Garden Club, celebrated the ballroom build.
"You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction in the back. You hear that? Oh, that’s music to my ears," Trump said. "I love that sound. Other people don't like it, I love it."
