Trump Floats Removing White House Briefing Room to Revive Hidden ‘FDR Pool’ After Barring CNN from Air Force One
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President Donald Trump floated getting rid of the White House press briefing room to bring back the indoor pool built for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s tenure in “The People’s House”
The area that would later become the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room was initially converted in 1970 under President Richard Nixon after donors helped fund a pool to help treat Roosevelt’s polio in 1933
Trump’s proposal comes after barring CNN from Air Force One over the weekend and amid his court battle to ban news outlets he dislikes from the White House
As President Donald Trump fights in court to ban particular news organizations from the White House, he suggested converting the White House press briefing room back to the indoor pool built during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s tenure in “The People’s House.”
Over the weekend, shortly after barring CNN from Air Force One for a trip to a college football game in Tennessee, Trump posted an image on Truth Social that labeled the briefing room “Fake News Before” and a gilded depiction of a newly renovated “FDR Pool After.”
The White House did not immediately comment on the president’s intentions when contacted by PEOPLE on Monday, Sept. 28. CNN declined to comment on being barred from Air Force One.
The area that would later become the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room — named for President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary who was shot and paralyzed by would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr. — was opened in 1970 under President Richard Nixon, according to a history of the room produced by the George W. Bush administration.
Former White House press secretary James Brady visits the press briefing room that bears his name in the West Wing of the White House on March 30, 2011.
Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Nixon ordered the indoor swimming pool drained and covered to create space for the growing number of journalists covering the White House, first as a lounge and office area for reporters where press secretaries would brief.
In 1981, Reagan converted it into “a true briefing room with a low stage on the west end and fixed seats,” according to the Bush-era history. President Bill Clinton named the room for Brady in 2000.
The Bush administration temporarily moved press briefings to a nearby White House annex for renovations in 2006. When it reopened in 2007, “the swimming pool space below the briefing room floor remained structurally intact and was utilized to house electronics for supporting press operations,” according to the administration’s history.
The James S. Brady White House Briefing Room on Sept. 19, 2026.
Credit: Graeme Sloan/Getty
The pool was built in 1933, Roosevelt’s first year in office at the height of the Great Depression, funded by donations spurred by Roosevelt’s hometown New York Daily News.
The nation’s 32nd president contracted paralyzing polio in 1921 at the age of 39 and had taken to swimming in therapy pools at his home in Hyde Park, N.Y., and elsewhere to ease his symptoms.
White House swimming pool during the Eisenhower administration. Jan. 27, 1956.
Credit: Everett/Shutterstock
Trump has sought similar “modern-day” renovations to the White House, including a brand new helipad, a paved-over Rose Garden, a White House ballroom with state-of-the-art security features and a gilded Oval Office.
“The White House was in very bad condition, both inside and out. Frankly, it was a ‘dump!’ Past Presidents did not take care of it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sept. 13. “I love renovating it during my spare time, which is not much.”
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