Former Obama White House chief photographer Pete Souza on Monday expressed his dismay at President Donald Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing to make way for his $250 million ballroom.
“I was shocked,” said Souza, who captured multiple iconic images of former President Barack Obama in the East Wing, including the beloved shot of him running with his dog Bo, in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
Souza acknowledged an argument for building the ballroom but condemned the way Trump has gone about it. The president initially denied that any part of the White House would be physically affected by the project. Souza also suggested it didn’t need to seat 999 people or be gilded in gold.
“You don’t just tear down a building,” Souza said. “This is not his house. This house belongs to us. It’s the People’s House. And one man should not be able to just knock down a building for his vanity ballroom project. I just felt devastated that this is the way he went about doing it.”
Watch the interview here:
Souza, who frequently used his Obama-era photos to troll Trump during the president’s first term, has resumed the practice since Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January.
In recent days, he’s shared several of his old White House photos while blasting the ballroom project.
Souza called the demolition of the East Wing “a disgrace” in a throwback post featuring his photo of Obama and Bo. “The White House was once the People’s House. Now it belongs to a wannabe king,” he wrote.
“It’s a symbol of what his administration is doing to the country,” he added in another post. “Tearing it down.”