Trump Calls to Chop Down Historic Magnolia Tree Outdoors the White Home

Donald Trump is seeking to take away a historic tree from the White Home grounds.

The magnolia tree, which is located off the White Home’s south aspect, is deteriorating and thus can be eliminated, Trump said on his Fact Social platform on Sunday, March 30. The tree has lengthy been the positioning the place previous presidents have welcomed overseas dignitaries.

Trump mentioned the tree removing is a part of “large enhancements” to the grounds.

“Every little thing should come to an finish, and this tree is in horrible situation, a really harmful security hazard, on the White Home Entrance, no much less, and should now be eliminated,” he wrote within the submit. “This course of will happen subsequent week, and can be changed by one other, very lovely tree.”

He added that the unique tree’s “historic” wooden can be saved for different functions all through the White Home.

Almost two centuries in the past, shortly after President Andrew Jackson took workplace in 1829, the 2 magnolia timber had been planted to commemorate the president’s late spouse, Rachel — based on “folklore,” the Nationwide Park Service‘s web site learn. The seeds had been allegedly dropped at the White Home from Jackson’s Tennessee dwelling, Hermitage.

Magnolias did not seem in White Home photographs till the 1860s, nonetheless, because the timber had been simply seeds after they had been planted roughly 30 years prior, Jackson continues to be credited as having introduced the magnolias to the grounds.

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The 2 timber had been impacted in 1994 when a Cessna airplane focused and crashed into the White Home Grounds. In 2006, the NPS web page continued, the timber had been named “Witness Bushes,” as their lifespans have seen quite a few main moments in American historical past. Late in 2017, throughout Trump’s first time period in workplace, the 2 timber underwent “vital department removing and pruning.”

The removing of the historic tree isn’t the primary occasion of Trump-led renovations to White Home grounds. In 2020, first girl Melania Trump unveiled plans to renovate the White Home’s historic Rose Backyard, which presidents have lengthy used as a backdrop for essential speeches and ceremonies, saying on the time that the transfer was an “act of expressing hope and optimism for the longer term.”

The choice drew criticism when introduced because of the first girl’s name to take away a few dozen crabapple timber planted within the backyard by former first girl Jackie Kennedy. The timber had been reportedly relocated to a different web site on the property, and the present first girl opted principally for pastel flower beds as a alternative.

Different additions to the White Home Rose Backyard applied throughout Trump’s first time period included a brand new walkway, new landscaping and drainage enhancements.