Obama’s Photographer Pete Souza Laments the Loss of White House East Wing

Oct 29, 2025

Matt Growcoot

A man in a suit runs down a bright hallway with a black dog on a leash beside him. The hallway has large windows on one side and framed pictures on the walls. — President Barack Obama runs down the East Colonnade with family dog, Bo, on the dog’s first visit to the White House in March, 2009. | Pete Souza / The White House

Former White House photographer Pete Souza is no fan of President Donald J. Trump and in recent days has taken to social media to express his displeasure at the demolition of the East Wing.

Trump is tearing down the entire East Wing and ripping up the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden to make way for a grand, golden 90,000-square-foot ballroom. This contradicts a previous pledge that the project would not interfere with the U.S. landmark.

A group of people sit in red armchairs in a theater with bright red walls, all wearing 3D glasses and watching a movie. — Souza shared this photo of the Obamas watching a 3D commercial during the Super Bowl in 2009. | Pete Souza / The White House

Souza has been sharing some of the memorable photos he took in the East Wing to his 3.1 million Instagram followers while condemning the work that’s being done there.

“The East Wing is being destroyed by one man. There is a process to renovate any part of the White House. That was ignored,” Souza writes while calling it a “disgrace.”

A man in a suit, smiling, hugs and greets a group of excited children in a bright room with large portraits on the walls. The atmosphere is joyful and warm. — Greeting kids at a healthy kids and safe sports summit in East Garden Room.⁣ | Pete Souza / The White House

President Barack Obama warmly greets and shakes hands with elderly men in red jackets, likely veterans, while Michelle Obama and others look on and smile in a formal room with a large portrait and arched window. — With the Tuskegee Airmen.⁣ | Pete Souza / The White House

A man and a woman sit together in the front row of an empty theater, smiling as light from a film projector beams across the seats. The cozy room has armchairs and soft lighting from table lamps. — Ronald And Nancy Reagan in the East Wing theater. | Reagan Presidential Library

Children and adults gather on the White House lawn near a pergola for an outdoor event, possibly an Easter egg hunt. Some children are holding baskets and searching the grass, while a photographer stands nearby. — Children participate in the Easter Egg Roll on the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on March 27, 1967. | Robert Knudsen / LBJ Library.⁣

While the majority of Souza’s photography took place in the West Wing and in the main part of the White House, President Obama would sometimes visit the East Wing’s Family Theater or East Garden Room for functions. The building also housed the offices and staff of the First Lady.

The work being done to the East Wing means that public tours of the White House are canceled for the foreseeable future. The visitor entrance was in the East Wing and is now a demolition site. However, the spectacle has become a tourist attraction itself as tourists clamor for a peek at the work.

A demolition excavator tears down part of a large building behind a gated fence, surrounded by trees and street lamps, with debris and dust visible in the background. — Demolition of the East Wing. | Sizzlipedia / Wikimedia Commons

Trump, no stranger to redeveloping property, has defended the demolition, arguing that there is not enough space for state visits and other grand events. Past presidents have erected a large temporary pavilion on a lawn, which Trump views as downmarket.

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