THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do).
- President Trump denied Saturday morning that he plans to replace the White House press briefing room with a swimming pool, calling the reported idea something he never even considered.
- But he left one possibility hanging: moving the White House press corps to what he described as a “less obnoxious location.”
- The denial follows New York Times reporting that Trump repeatedly discussed restoring Franklin D. Roosevelt’s old swimming pool beneath the briefing room, amid an ongoing battle over reporters’ White House access.
LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time).
President Donald Trump has some disappointing news for anyone hoping to see CNN doing the backstroke in the White House swimming pool.
The pool isn’t coming back.
But the reporters? They might still be moving.
Trump took to Truth Social Saturday morning to shoot down reports that he was considering replacing the White House press briefing room with the indoor swimming pool once used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
And, naturally, he couldn’t resist taking a swipe at the reporters involved.
“Although I may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location, the old swimming pool will never be brought back.”
Well, there’s a sentence guaranteed to produce a few nervous glances around the White House press room.
🚨 NOW: President Trump rules out turning the White House press briefing room into a SWIMMING POOL — but says he still might relocate the fake news to a “less obnoxious location” 😂
“There is a Fake News report out there that I am going to remove the White House Press Room and bring back the old Swimming Pool, which lies directly underneath. Although I may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location, the old swimming pool will never be brought back. I NEVER even thought to do such a stupid thing! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT”
This would’ve been hilarious but definitely very impractical 🤣
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 24, 2026
Trump was responding to a New York Times report by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan that claimed he had repeatedly discussed removing the press corps from its longtime West Wing home.
According to the Times, the president even suggested restoring the swimming pool installed during the Roosevelt administration. But Trump wasn’t buying it.
“There is a Fake News report out there that I am going to remove the White House Press Room and bring back the old Swimming Pool, which lies directly underneath,” he wrote.
“I NEVER even thought to do such a stupid thing!”
He concluded with his familiar presidential signoff, thanking readers for their attention to the matter.
Consider the swimming pool officially drained of presidential enthusiasm.
The controversy began Tuesday when the Times reported that Trump had personally raised the proposal with then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt during an August Oval Office meeting.
According to three people familiar with the conversations, Trump suggested that transforming the briefing room into a pool could become Leavitt’s “last legacy.”
The newspaper reported that the subject came up multiple times before Leavitt left her position in late August. There was even a visual component to the story.
Trump had previously posted before-and-after images on Truth Social, contrasting the existing press briefing room with a luxurious, gold-accented swimming pool.
One image identified the briefing room with the words “Fake News.” The other featured the proposed “FDR Pool.”
For a president who enjoys remodeling almost as much as he enjoys sparring with reporters, the concept had a certain unmistakable Trump flavor. But Saturday’s statement draws a clear distinction between two ideas: restoring the pool and relocating the reporters.
The first, Trump now insists, was never under consideration. The second remains very much on the table.
And there is some history behind all this. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the indoor swimming pool installed in 1933 to help with physical therapy.
Decades later, during Richard Nixon’s administration, the pool was covered over to create what eventually became the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.
So yes, underneath the room where reporters question the White House press secretary sits a piece of presidential aquatic history. It’s just not getting filled with water anytime soon.
The president’s interest in changing the press arrangements hasn’t been limited to imaginary diving boards.
CBS News reported Wednesday that Trump had discussed moving the press corps to another building, citing two people close to the president.
🇺🇸 Bill Maher just told Trump’s press secretary he SUPPORTS the White House ballroom, and the two ended up joking about Trump’s renovation plans.
Maher brought up Trump’s idea of turning the press briefing room back into a swimming pool.
Karoline Leavitt confirmed he’d been considering it, pointing out that the original pool tiles are still underneath the room.
Then Bill made his position clear.
“I don’t give a SHIT about any of this. I like the ballroom. America does NEED a ballroom.”
It’s the United States of America. We’re having dinner IN THE GRASS. It’s stupid.”
Leavitt couldn’t agree more, joking about guests ruining their expensive shoes in the mud.
Not exactly the argument over Trump’s White House renovations anyone expected from Bill Maher.
Writer: Oliver https://t.co/r8KmT4OfzZ
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 24, 2026
Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon was among those encouraging the idea, according to that report. White House communications director Steven Cheung did little to close the door on a possible relocation.
“All options remain on the table, and we will make an announcement when appropriate,” Cheung said.
That leaves the White House press corps with an interesting situation: Their pool is safe from restoration, but their desks may not be safe from relocation.
And the idea of moving reporters is hardly new.
During Trump’s first presidential transition in 2017, officials discussed moving press briefings to a larger space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, adjacent to the West Wing.
At the time, the administration suggested that a roomier setting might accommodate more journalists.
This latest discussion, however, arrives amid an increasingly bitter dispute over which news organizations receive access to the president.
Last month, the White House restricted access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, prompting a lawsuit and a protest by television news organizations over press-pool arrangements.
A federal judge subsequently ordered access restored, finding that the restrictions were likely unconstitutional. The administration continues to contest that ruling.
Moving the press corps would raise a different set of questions about where journalists work and how easily they can question administration officials. For now, there has been no formal announcement of a relocation or a new destination.
But Trump’s Saturday post provided a fresh indication that the idea hasn’t disappeared.
The president may have rejected the swimming pool, but he certainly hasn’t developed any new affection for the occupants of the briefing room.
DBS WIRE SOURCES (I’ve got all day).
- President Donald Trump — October 24 Truth Social statement denying pool restoration while raising possible press relocation
- Mediaite — Trump says he may move the press to a ‘less obnoxious location’
- CBS News — Trump weighs moving White House press corps out of building
- TheWrap — White House initially declined to rule out pool proposal
- Reuters — Trump says he may move White House press corps
