There won’t be any water polo games in the White House press room anytime soon, President Donald Trump said in a Saturday Truth Social post.
“There is a Fake News report out there that I am going to remove the White House Press Room and bring back the old Swimming Pool, which lies directly underneath,” said the president. “Although I may move the Fake News to a less obnoxious location, the old swimming pool will never be brought back. I NEVER even thought to do such a stupid thing!”
According to The Wrap, one source of this “fake news” is former Trump administration press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down from the role this August. She was replaced briefly by Katie Zacharia, who left the role amid controversy about how she has marketed her legal credentials.
Leavitt recently appeared on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” for an interview and discussed possible changes to the White House briefing room.
“So, he just maybe wants to restore it to all of its glory. I don’t know if he’ll do it, but he’s been flirting with [the idea],” she told Maher (who Trump has called a “jerk” in the past) when he asked if Trump plans to replace the press pool with an actual pool.
As Trump mentioned in his post, the White House press room is directly above a covered-up pool. The White House Historical Association explained that the indoor swimming pool was installed in the early 1930s, during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s tenure, “after a campaign led by the New York Daily News to raise money,” so Roosevelt could use it as a therapy pool for his poliomyelitis.
“The rectangular pool, encircled by arched ceilings and high rows of half-mooned windows, was built inside the west terrace between the White House and the West Wing,” said the historical association.
Decades later, President Richard M. Nixon had the press briefing room constructed above the old pool “to accommodate the growing demand for television news,” the association noted. Members of the press have attended the White House press secretary’s briefings in the small theater since 1970.
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 13: Reporters raise their hands to ask White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia questions during her first news briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on October 13, 2026 in Washington, DC. Zacharia, a conservative commentator and former communications adviser for Trump Media, took questions from reporters in her first media briefing as the new White House press secretary.Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images“The doors opening to the Rose Garden allow the members of the media quick access to outdoor events,” the historical association added. It said President Gerald R. Ford installed an outdoor pool on the White House grounds in 1975.
Trump has already caused a stir with projects at the White House and around the capital since his second term began last year. A project to knock down the East Room and construct a ballroom was met with a lawsuit, for example.
