President Donald Trump Sparks Fury After Paving Over Iconic White House Rose Garden: ‘Absolutely Crazy’

President Donald Trump‘s drastic renovation plans for the White House Rose Garden are well underway, with new images revealing that the once-grassy area has been completely paved over in an apparent bid to make the area safer for press conferences.

Trump, 79, first revealed his plans for the historic space in a March interview on Fox News, explaining that he wanted to pave over the lawn directly outside the West Wing in order to prevent women’s high heels from getting stuck in the grass and to avoid any unnecessary falls.

“You know, we use [the Rose Garden] for press conference and it doesn’t work because the people fall,” he said. “The terrain can be wet and the soft ground can be an issue for some. Women, with the high heels, it just didn’t work.”

Work on the historic garden began on June 9, when employees of the National Park Service began removing a limestone border that had been installed by Trump’s wife, Melania, 55, during his first term in office.

The renovation quickly progressed, with images taken on June 17 and June 18 revealing that the entire lawn had been ripped up by bulldozers—as well as several poles that were under the ground—before gravel was laid across the entire surface.

Despite Trump’s insistence that the garden renovation was entirely necessary, the project has sparked some backlash from critics, who insist that the “removal” of such an important piece of White House history is disrespectful.

“White House Rose Garden gone. Absolutely crazy,” one such person wrote in a post shared on X.

“To remove Kennedy’s Rose Garden is removing a piece of our White House history. And for a patio,” another person chimed in.

“Melania and Donald Trump are ruining the White House Rose Garden once again. They’re deporables,” one other person posted.

However, a White House spokesperson insisted to People that Trump and his wife have “the deepest respect for the history of the White House and the Rose Garden,” adding: “This restoration to the Rose Garden preserves the beauty of the space and builds on the work done in 2020, with a focus on enhancing practical use and guest experience for those attending special events.”

The White House Rose Garden has long been one of the most cherished outdoor spaces at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, having first been installed by then-first lady Ellen Louise Wilson, wife of then-President Woodrow Wilson, in 1913.

Ellen collaborated with landscaper George Burnap on the space—which had previously been used as a Colonial-style garden by former first lady Edith Roosevelt, according to the National Park Service website.

The space was used by several presidents, including Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, as a small reception space—however, it was expanded to accommodate larger gatherings during John F. Kennedy‘s presidency, when his wife, Jackie Kennedy, transformed the Rose Garden into the iconic space that many know it as today.

When Melania first revealed her plans to overhaul the garden during her husband’s first presidency, she also faced backlash, with critics slamming the work that was done to the space—which involved the removal of almost all of the plants and flowers that had been there for years.

According to the Associated Press, the latest work on the Rose Garden is due to be completed in the first half of August, with an unnamed official revealing that workers have been given a two-month timeline for the project.

The paving of the Rose Garden is just one part of Trump’s extensive renovation plans for the White House—to which he is also planning to add a lavish ballroom, much like the event space at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

On June 6, Trump shared a post on his own social media website, Truth Social, about the future ballroom, insisting that it will be a “wonderful addition” to the White House, while claiming that his predecessors had not had adequate enough experience to oversee such an impactful project.

“But I do, like maybe nobody else, and it will go up quickly, and be a wonderful addition, very much in keeping with the magnificent White House itself,” he wrote. “These are the ‘fun’ projects I do while thinking about the World Economy, the United States, China, Russia, and lots of other Countries, places, and events.”

He said during a May interview with NBC News that he was funding the project himself—while also paying for the installation of two 100-foot flagpoles that will sit on the North and South Lawns at the White House.