United States President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation designating the Oval Office and the adjacent Cabinet Room as a national monument.
Signed from behind the president’s desk, topped with a red “VETO” baseball cap, the proclamation on Thursday marked Trump’s first official action since his party’s sweeping losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections, which will hand Democrats control of Congress come January.
“We’re making it a national monument, and it will not be allowed to be touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people, in order to build something in a slightly different shape,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office at the signing, adding that the document will turn both rooms, located on the first floor of the West Wing, into “a landmark for the ages”.
The monument also includes the Outer Oval Office. The move is intended to prevent any major changes to the spaces, which the president has heavily redesigned during his second term in office.
The effort is also aimed at preserving the spaces’ “historic character, architectural integrity, and association with the Presidency”, according to the proclamation.
The proclamation orders the interior secretary to manage the monument through the National Park Service, and requires “documentation, review, and consideration of alternatives before any action that would substantially alter or demolish the monument”.
The measure does not prevent future presidents from restyling the Oval Office. Proclamations can be revised or revoked by a successor via a new executive action – a strategy Trump himself used to dramatically downsize two major national monuments in Utah during his first term, and again during his second term after former President Joe Biden had fully restored them.
The text of the proclamation also explicitly states that the order does not restrict the president’s authority to redecorate, select furnishings or change the office’s decor.
Coming on the heels of his party’s defeat, the signing marked the president’s third event of the week highlighting his pet projects.
Those initiatives include multiple high-profile overhauls, including the demolition of the East Wing to build a highly contentious, nearly $1bn White House ballroom to sit atop a multistorey underground bunker, as well as a proposed 76-metre (250ft) triumphal arch along the approach to Arlington National Cemetery.
These projects, including the failed renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which cost more than $14m, have drawn sharp criticism from opposition lawmakers and many Americans. Public opinion polls have signalled that many voters are dissatisfied with the Trump administration’s domestic spending choices and broader economic priorities.
Inside Trump’s multimillion-dollar White House renovations
Since returning to office in 2025, Trump, a real estate mogul-turned-politician, has started numerous construction projects and added personalised flourishes throughout the White House.
In June last year, Trump installed two towering flagpoles on the North and South Lawns, and later paved over the Rose Garden’s lawn with a stone patio reminiscent of his luxurious Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
The South Lawn is also home to a newly installed multimillion-dollar granite helicopter pad, intended to protect the lawn from damage by the new presidential helicopters.
Inside the White House, the president has given the Oval Office a golden makeover, with gleaming vases, 24-karat gold trim on the ceilings, burnished wood carvings, and heavy gilded frames spilling across multiple surfaces.
In September last year, Trump lined the West Wing Colonnade with an exhibition of presidential portraits, dubbed the “Presidential Walk of Fame”. The display features controversial plaques with gold lettering beneath the portraits, which include partisan criticisms of some former presidents, including Barack Obama.
Trump did not elaborate on precisely what he was hoping to prevent but suggested that the Oval Office might face some threat in the future.
The president’s administration has faced several lawsuits alleging that his Washington beautification projects were carried out without the necessary approval.
“If anybody ever decides to come and start knocking down walls, you call me wherever I may be,” Trump said, “and I’ll come back here and I’ll make sure it never happens.”
