At a Glance

• President Trump signed a proclamation preserving the Oval Office and Cabinet Room as a national monument.

• It was his first official action after Republicans' midterm losses.

• The order does not stop future presidents from redecorating or reversing it.

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a proclamation that he says will protect the Oval Office and Cabinet Room as a national monument, two days after his party was swept aside in the midterm elections.

Key Statements and Focus Area

• Trump on the Order: "It will not be allowed to be touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people in order to build something in a slightly different shape." — Donald Trump, US President.

• Trump on Future Threats: "If anybody ever decides to come and start knocking down walls, you call me wherever I may be, and I'll come back here, and I'll make sure it never happens." — Donald Trump.

• Focus Area: The Oval Office national monument proclamation and its limited legal reach.

The proclamation places the Interior secretary in charge of managing the Oval Office and requires documentation, review, and consideration of alternatives before any action that would substantially alter or demolish it.

It states that nothing in it restricts the president's authority to redecorate, select furnishings, or make ordinary operational and security changes.

Trump said major changes would need review by Congress, though that requirement does not appear in the text.

A successor could also roll back the proclamation, as Trump himself has reversed national monument designations made by his predecessors.

The signing was the third day this week Trump focused on his Washington projects.

On Monday he spoke at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool about its renovation, and on Wednesday he signed the final beam of his ballroom, built after the East Wing was demolished.

A red cap reading "VETO" sat on the Resolute Desk during the signing, a nod to the coming shift of power in Congress.

Democrats are preparing new scrutiny. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent letters Thursday to known donors to the ballroom, demanding information or facing "alternative measures to obtain compliance."

FYI

Since returning to the White House, Trump has overseen design changes to several rooms, filling the Oval Office with gold accents, portraits, and a copy of the Declaration of Independence and installing new chandeliers in the Cabinet Room.

He has faced several lawsuits alleging that his Washington beautification projects lacked the necessary approvals.

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