Trump Moves to Make the Oval Office a National Monument, So It Stays Oval

President Donald Trump moved on Thursday to protect two of the White House's most historic spaces, signing a proclamation that he said would be the first step toward declaring the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room a national monument, Reuters reported. The proclamation notes that the White House is already recognized as a national historic landmark, but says the Oval Office merits specific recognition and protective management as a discrete historic structure of national significance.

"So 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 will be smart enough not to let that happen," Trump said, according to Reuters. He said the proclamation would need congressional approval. Both rooms have been in the same locations since the 1930s and are the sites of major international and domestic meetings.

The timing is part of the story. The signing came two days after midterm elections that cost Republicans control of Congress; Democrats will assume the majority in January, curtailing Trump's legislative influence in the final years of his presidency. In a nod to that looming change, Reuters reported, a red hat that said VETO sat on Trump's desk during the ceremony. Asked whether the next president would be allowed to take down all his gold decorations, Trump told reporters: "They can do anything they want, as long as they do it carefully."

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has transformed the Oval Office with gold accents, paved over the Rose Garden, torn down the East Wing to make way for a ballroom and resurfaced the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Reuters reported. Thursday's ceremony was the third time this week he had promoted those projects: on Monday he unveiled the refurbished Reflecting Pool, and on Wednesday, the day after the elections, he gave reporters a tour of the ballroom construction.