Anyone undertaking a home renovation knows they should look at the project from all angles – which appears to be what U.S. President Donald Trump was doing when he took a surprise stroll on the White House roof Tuesday morning.
“Sir, why are you on the roof?” reporters shouted from below after Trump emerged from a door connected to the State Dining Room and stepped out onto the roof above the press briefing room.
“Taking a little walk,” Trump shouted back. “It’s good for your health.”
U.S. President Donald Trump on the roof of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. Trump appeared on the roof of the White House near where he has proposed a new ballroom to be built.
Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
No stranger to real estate and renovations, the president was trailed by a small group, including James McCrery, the architect behind the newly announced US$200-million privately funded East Wing ballroom project, WCNC News reported.
According to the outlet, the group moved slowly, as they wandered the roof for about 20 minutes, with Trump frequently gesturing and pointing at the roof and grounds.
At one point on Tuesday’s rooftop tour, he shouted to journalists that he was looking at “another way to spend my money for this country.” Later, near the end of his appearance on the roof, Trump was asked what he was going to build. Presumably joking, he quipped, “Nuclear missiles,” while making the gesture of a rocket launching.
He also took time to survey the newly paved Rose Garden, a contentious project that recently saw the grounds’ manicured grass lawn paved over to make way for a white stone patio.
Work continues in paving over the White House Rose Garden lawn on July 23, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
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Over the weekend, Trump defended his idea to level the garden that first opened in 1913 and was used to host receptions and annual ceremonies, telling reporters on Sunday: “When we had a press conference, you’d sink into the mud. It was grass and it was very wet, always wet and damp and wet and if it rained, it would take three, four, five days to dry out and we couldn’t use it really for the intended purpose.”
The unexpected walk on the rooftop comes as Trump looks to leave a lasting footprint on what’s often referred to as “The People’s House.”
He has substantially redecorated the Oval Office through the addition of golden flourishes and cherubs, presidential portraits and other items, and installed massive flagpoles on the north and south lawns to fly the American flag.
President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hold a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on June 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
And last week, his administration announced that construction on a massive, 90,000-square-foot ballroom will begin in September and be ready before Trump’s term ends in early 2029.
The president claims the ballroom, estimated to cost $200 million, will be paid for by him and as-yet unnamed donors rather than by taxpayers.
According to the White House, the new addition would have a seating capacity of 650 — approximately three times the space available in the East Room, which is currently the largest room available on the 18-acre complex.
— With files from The Associated Press