President Donald Trump is using his postelection public appearances to talk about the lasting physical changes he hopes to leave behind at the White House.
\n\nIn the two days since Republicans suffered massive losses in the midterm elections, Trump has spoken twice in public. Both times he focused on rooms and renovations at the White House.
\n\nOn Thursday, Trump signed a proclamation that designates the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room as a national monument in an effort to block any significant changes to them by future presidents.
\n\n“We’re going to be declaring it a national monument, and we’re going to send it over to Congress to have it ratified,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It won’t be able to be taken down, destroyed, touched or anything else.”
\n\nTrump, who later took questions from reporters about other topics, said any “major modifications” to the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room would have to be approved by Congress, adding that he hopes “the people in Congress will be smart enough not to let that happen.”
\n\nThe White House has officially been a U.S. National Historic Landmark since 1960. Trump wrote in the proclamation that “the Oval Office merits specific…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business