By — Associated Press Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-white-house-holds-news-briefing-as-trump-pardons-founder-of-crypto-exchange-binance Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: White House says ballroom project price tag has risen to $300 million Politics Updated on Oct 23, 2025 4:22 PM EDT — Published on Oct 23, 2025 12:38 PM EDT The estimated price tag for the president’s planned renovations now stands at about $300 million — much higher than the initial $200 million that the White House put forward. Watch White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s news briefing in the player above. That’s because like “with any construction project, there are changes over time,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. “This is going to be a magnificent addition,” Leavitt said. PHOTOS: White House starts East Wing demolition to build Trump’s ballroom On whether the cost of the ballroom includes costs for upgrading the security bunker located under the East Wing, Leavitt said “like any security enhancements that are made on the white House grounds, those will be made and maintained by United States Secret Service.” Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Enter your email address Subscribe Form error message goes here. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. The press secretary was asked Thursday about President Donald Trump’s previous comments that his planned ballroom project wouldn’t interfere with the current structure. Leavitt responded that the administration made clear from the start that the East Wing would have to be “modernized.” She also said “plans changed” when Trump heard from architects and the builders behind the project. “The plans changed when the president heard counsel from the architects and the construction companies who said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many, many years to come, for it to be a truly strong and stable structure, this phase one that we’re now in was necessary and the president wants to do right by the people’s house,” she said. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a picture captioned “Construction of the West Wing in 1902” during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., Oct. 23, 2025. Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters White House goes after Biden, other Dems on official website As they continue to promote information about Trump’s ongoing ballroom renovations, the White House has made some adds to its website that attack former President Joe Biden and some of his other Democratic predecessors. Under a section titled “Major Events Timeline,” there now includes references to a bag of cocaine that was found in a common area of the West Wing in July 2023 during the Biden presidency. The Trump White House also added Biden’s designation of “Transgender Day of Visibility” in 2024, which fell on the same day as Easter Sunday that year, as well as references to former President Bill Clinton’s affair with an intern. “Some easter eggs on the White House site for the wannabe historians on social media,” wrote Kaelan Dorr, the White House’s deputy communications director, on the site X. “Enjoy :)” White House says Zhao pardon was Trump ‘exercising his constitutional authority’ Trump on Thursday pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who created the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and served prison time after failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism. Zhao has deep ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September. READ MORE: Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao Trump’s most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which has launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged at a 1-to-1 ratio to the U.S. dollar. World Liberty Financial also recently announced that an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance. Zhao also has publicly said that he had asked Trump for a pardon that could nullify his conviction. Leavitt said in a statement Thursday that the Biden administration prosecuted Zhao out of a “desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry.” She said there were “no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” though Zhao had pleaded guilty in November to one count of failing to maintain an anti-money-laundering program. Leavitt said the president has “the constitutional authority to grant clemency requests, and that he and the White House have a very thorough examination of every pardon request that comes to the president’s desk.” She said during her briefing with reporters that the pardon was “thoroughly reviewed by the White House counsel office” and that the crypto billionaire known as CZ faced “an overly prosecuted case by the Biden administration.” “The Biden administration was pursuing an egregious over-sentencing of this individual. And the previous administration was very hostile to the cryptocurrency industry,” she said. “So the president wants to correct this overreach.” White House provides schedule of Trump’s Asia trip Leavitt laid out Trump’s trip to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea — with the president set to depart on Friday at 11 pm EDT. Trump will arrive in Malaysia on Sunday morning local time. He’ll then meet Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and attend a working dinner for the leaders attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summits. On Monday morning local time, Trump will fly to Tokyo. He will on Tuesday morning local time meet with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. On Wednesday, Trump will fly to Busan, South Korea for a meeting with Korean President Lee Jae Myung. He is then scheduled to deliver keynote remarks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO luncheon and later participate in a working dinner with APEC leaders. On Thursday morning, Trump will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and then fly back to the U.S. in the evening. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now By — Associated Press Associated Press
The estimated price tag for the president’s planned renovations now stands at about $300 million — much higher than the initial $200 million that the White House put forward. Watch White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s news briefing in the player above. That’s because like “with any construction project, there are changes over time,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. “This is going to be a magnificent addition,” Leavitt said. PHOTOS: White House starts East Wing demolition to build Trump’s ballroom On whether the cost of the ballroom includes costs for upgrading the security bunker located under the East Wing, Leavitt said “like any security enhancements that are made on the white House grounds, those will be made and maintained by United States Secret Service.” Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Enter your email address Subscribe Form error message goes here. Thank you. Please check your inbox to confirm. The press secretary was asked Thursday about President Donald Trump’s previous comments that his planned ballroom project wouldn’t interfere with the current structure. Leavitt responded that the administration made clear from the start that the East Wing would have to be “modernized.” She also said “plans changed” when Trump heard from architects and the builders behind the project. “The plans changed when the president heard counsel from the architects and the construction companies who said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many, many years to come, for it to be a truly strong and stable structure, this phase one that we’re now in was necessary and the president wants to do right by the people’s house,” she said. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a picture captioned “Construction of the West Wing in 1902” during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., Oct. 23, 2025. Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters White House goes after Biden, other Dems on official website As they continue to promote information about Trump’s ongoing ballroom renovations, the White House has made some adds to its website that attack former President Joe Biden and some of his other Democratic predecessors. Under a section titled “Major Events Timeline,” there now includes references to a bag of cocaine that was found in a common area of the West Wing in July 2023 during the Biden presidency. The Trump White House also added Biden’s designation of “Transgender Day of Visibility” in 2024, which fell on the same day as Easter Sunday that year, as well as references to former President Bill Clinton’s affair with an intern. “Some easter eggs on the White House site for the wannabe historians on social media,” wrote Kaelan Dorr, the White House’s deputy communications director, on the site X. “Enjoy :)” White House says Zhao pardon was Trump ‘exercising his constitutional authority’ Trump on Thursday pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who created the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and served prison time after failing to stop criminals from using the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism. Zhao has deep ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September. READ MORE: Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao Trump’s most recent financial disclosure report reveals he made more than $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which has launched USD1, a stablecoin pegged at a 1-to-1 ratio to the U.S. dollar. World Liberty Financial also recently announced that an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance. Zhao also has publicly said that he had asked Trump for a pardon that could nullify his conviction. Leavitt said in a statement Thursday that the Biden administration prosecuted Zhao out of a “desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry.” She said there were “no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” though Zhao had pleaded guilty in November to one count of failing to maintain an anti-money-laundering program. Leavitt said the president has “the constitutional authority to grant clemency requests, and that he and the White House have a very thorough examination of every pardon request that comes to the president’s desk.” She said during her briefing with reporters that the pardon was “thoroughly reviewed by the White House counsel office” and that the crypto billionaire known as CZ faced “an overly prosecuted case by the Biden administration.” “The Biden administration was pursuing an egregious over-sentencing of this individual. And the previous administration was very hostile to the cryptocurrency industry,” she said. “So the president wants to correct this overreach.” White House provides schedule of Trump’s Asia trip Leavitt laid out Trump’s trip to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea — with the president set to depart on Friday at 11 pm EDT. Trump will arrive in Malaysia on Sunday morning local time. He’ll then meet Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and attend a working dinner for the leaders attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summits. On Monday morning local time, Trump will fly to Tokyo. He will on Tuesday morning local time meet with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. On Wednesday, Trump will fly to Busan, South Korea for a meeting with Korean President Lee Jae Myung. He is then scheduled to deliver keynote remarks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO luncheon and later participate in a working dinner with APEC leaders. On Thursday morning, Trump will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and then fly back to the U.S. in the evening. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now