Trump Vows To Stop 'Stupid People' Ripping Oval Office as 'Veto' Cap Appears a Year After East Wing Demolition

President Donald Trump vowed at the White House on Thursday to protect the Oval Office from 'stupid people', signing a proclamation he claimed would preserve it and the Cabinet Room as a national monument.

Trump had already demolished the East Wing to make room for his ballroom project. The preservation order was his first official action after Republicans suffered defeats in Tuesday's midterm elections.

A red baseball cap bearing 'VETO' rested on the Resolute Desk during the signing. Despite Trump's promises of protection, the order allows future presidents to redecorate and does not prevent a successor from reversing the proclamation itself.

'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 stated. 'We like the Oval Office, and it's a symbol, like the White House itself.'

What the Oval Office Order Allows

The proclamation, released after Trump's remarks, contains an explicit exemption for changes that leave the rooms' essential character intact.

Nothing in it will 'restrict the President's authority to redecorate the monument, select furnishings, or make ordinary operational and security modifications that do not substantially impair the monument's historic structure or architectural character.'

It directs the Interior secretary to manage the Oval Office and requires 'documentation, review, and consideration of alternatives before any action that would substantially alter or demolish the monument.'

Trump presented congressional review as a requirement for major alterations.

'If they want to say, 'Let's not have oval anymore, let's make it square,' what happens is they have to go back to Congress and hopefully the Congress, the people in Congress, will be smart enough not to let that happen,' Trump argued.

No such congressional requirement appears in the text. Trump has himself reversed national monument designations issued by previous presidents.

Trump's Vision for the Oval Office

Since returning to the White House, Trump has overseen alterations to several rooms. Inside the Oval Office, he has installed gold wall appliqués and gold-framed portraits alongside a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

He also highlighted new Cabinet Room chandeliers, which he explained had been installed to address 'very bad lighting'. He did not specify precisely which future changes he hoped to prevent, although his remarks suggested concern about possible alterations to the office.

'If anybody ever decides to come and start knocking down walls, you call me wherever I may be,' Trump added, 'and I'll come back here and I'll make sure it never happens.'

Oval Office Ceremony Comes Amid Ballroom Scrutiny

On Wednesday, he gathered reporters to sign the final beam being raised for the ballroom. On Monday, he visited the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to discuss renovations there.

Democrats are meanwhile preparing fresh scrutiny of the ballroom project. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal sent letters on Thursday to known donors, demanding information and warning of 'alternative measures to obtain compliance'.

Blumenthal is the leading Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Several lawsuits have alleged that Trump's Washington renovation projects proceeded without the necessary approval.