Trump designates Oval Office as monument to curb future overhauls
What's new: the order still lets future presidents redecorate, and it could be reversed or require congressional ratification.
President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Thursday designating the Oval Office, the outer Oval Office and the Cabinet Room as a national monument, aiming to make major structural changes by future presidents harder. Trump said the move would protect the spaces from being torn down or reshaped, though the text preserves a president's power to redecorate, change furnishings and make routine security or operational modifications that do not damage the rooms' historic character. Trump also said any major modification would need Congress' approval. The step follows months of White House renovation work under Trump, including the demolition of the East Wing for a planned ballroom project that drew legal challenges.