'Paid For By Me': Budget Files Show Taxpayers, Not Trump, Funded $690K Oval Office Italian Granite Walkway

Donald Trump told reporters that he personally paid for the gleaming new granite walkway outside the Oval Office, but leaked federal budget records show the bill of more than £530,000 ($689,232) landed squarely on the taxpayer.

The documents, obtained by The Atlantic's Michael Scherer, trace the money for the West Colonnade project to the National Park Service rather than the president's own pocket. They surface at a moment when the same agency is shedding staff, cancelling hundreds of repairs, and watching its funds flow towards Washington vanity work.

What began as a cosmetic upgrade to a covered path has become a case study in how public money is being redirected to the People's House.

The Granite Path and a Presidential Claim That Did Not Hold

The walkway in question is the short covered route along the West Colonnade, the roughly 45-second commute every president since Harry Truman has made between the residence and the Oval Office. Trump had the original Tennessee flagstone torn out in March 2026 and replaced with polished African granite, carved in Italy, with a raised flame-finished stripe down the centre to prevent slips.

Asked by CBS News White House correspondent Ed O'Keefe who was footing the bill, the president answered after a pause, 'Paid for by me.' The budget records tell a different story. According to The Atlantic, replacing the path cost £530,000 ($689,232), part of a wider £1 million ($1.3 million) job that also covered masonry repairs and new hardware for nearby doors.

The reporting also identified a separate line of spending from a year earlier. In a project, the records label a 'Rush project at request of POTUS,' the Park Service spent around £267,000 ($347,503) to strip and replace the stucco on the colonnade wall, clearing the way for Trump to mount gold frames and plaques needling several of his predecessors.

How Park Service Cash Was Funnelled Towards Washington

The walkway sits inside a much larger reallocation of money. The Atlantic reported that spending in the National Capital Region rose by 92 per cent over the past year, drawn from revolving maintenance accounts and more than £77 million ($100 million) in fees collected almost entirely from national parks elsewhere in the country.

During the first eight and a half months of the 2026 fiscal year, spending on projects outside Washington fell by around £657 million ($854 million), a drop of 68 per cent. More than 900 Park Service projects that had been expected to receive funding this year got nothing. Among the casualties the magazine listed were a £1.15 million ($1.5 million) roof replacement at the Yellowstone Center for Resources and a £326,000 ($424,000) guardrail replacement at the edge of a cliff in Colorado's Black Canyon that staff had flagged as a serious safety hazard.

An anonymous Park Service employee told The Atlantic that some parks had as much as 70 per cent of their approved project funds clawed back, meaning 'signage and exhibits won't be improved, youth programs can't be offered, that a trail is not improved.'

Emily Douce, a lobbyist for the National Parks Conservation Association, put it bluntly to the magazine, saying the president was prioritising the capital 'at the expense of parks throughout the country' and warning of a £18 billion ($24 billion) maintenance backlog already weighing on the system.

A Workforce Stretched Thin as Vanity Projects Multiply

The financial squeeze coincides with a steep drop in staffing. The Park Service has lost close to a quarter of its workforce since 2025 through terminations, early retirements and federal buyouts, according to the report, and Trump's proposed 2027 budget would cut a further 3,967 full-time posts, a reduction of about 31 per cent against 2025 levels.

Remaining staff are being moved around to service the president's priorities. Roughly 450 employees from more than 200 parks have been reassigned to Washington to help stage events for the nation's 250th anniversary, with their home parks still paying their regular wages while running short-handed. Other approved spending includes about £25,000 ($32,095) to maintain the statues Trump installed in the Rose Garden.

The walkway is one of the smaller pieces of a sweeping building programme. The administration has demolished the East Wing to make way for a new ballroom, a project White House spokesperson Davis Ingle described to The Atlantic as 'inextricably tied to the security of the President,' saying Trump and his allies would contribute roughly £308 million ($400 million). A planned £3.85 million ($5 million) South Lawn landing pad for Marine One would be covered, the documents indicate, by a donation from the defence contractor Lockheed Martin.

The renovations have drawn organised resistance. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has gone to court over the East Wing demolition, arguing that the administration bypassed required reviews, congressional approval, and public comment, and that the scale of the new construction would overwhelm the historic mansion.

The Interior Department has defended its choices. A spokesperson told The Atlantic that the Park Service had been focused on beautifying the capital for the 250th celebrations while also tackling deferred maintenance across the country.

The White House, for its part, did not directly answer the magazine's questions about who paid for the new paving stones.