President Donald Trump confirmed on Saturday, October 24, that he may relocate the White House press corps from its current location, while rejecting a report that he intended to remove the press briefing room and restore a swimming pool on the site.
In a social media post, Trump dismissed the report, saying he had never "even thought to do such a stupid thing." He added: "I may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location."
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump had urged then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt in August to move news conferences out of the White House's James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, although the idea was never implemented. According to the report, the president told aides he would rather have an indoor therapy pool that was installed at the site during Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. The Nixon administration replaced the pool with the press briefing room.
Trump has regularly accused U.S. media of unfair reporting about his administration. Last month, he briefly banned journalists from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from White House grounds and said other outlets could face similar restrictions. Free speech advocates said the move violated First Amendment protections for a free press. The White House reinstated their access after an order from a federal judge who deemed the ban likely unconstitutional, although the Trump administration is still contesting the case.