- President Donald Trump reportedly loves to give White House tours – apparently more so than any other president before him.
- The Washington Post reported that Trump often speaks about his predecessors on the tours, once falsely claiming that Barack Obama would spend the day watching basketball in the private dining room off the Oval Office.
- Some visitors told The Post that Trump loves to talk about the improvements he’s made to the White House, including new chandeliers and imported artwork.
President Donald Trump apparently loves giving visitors extended tours of the White House – and drops a few outlandish claims during them from time to time.
Two White House officials and other visitors told The Washington Post that Trump claimed Barack Obama would spend the day in the private dining room off the Oval Office watching television on a small screen that has since been upgraded to a flat screen.
“He just sat in here and watched basketball all day,” Trump reportedly said, adding that when he got to the White House the dining room was in “rough shape” and had a hole in the wall.
An Obama White House official told The Post that none of those claims were true.
Trump loves to give tours of the White House, apparently more than those before him. Citing "nearly a dozen visitors and current and former White House aides," The Post reported that the president would invite acquaintances and strangers alike to show them around and brag about the different improvements he's made, pointing out new chandeliers and artwork he brought in.
Trump's love of tours is in line with his host-like persona. According to The Post, Trump would show off celebrity relics to guests when he lived in Trump Tower in New York. In his golf clubs, Trump shows off the conditions of the property and the luxury of the food served to guests.
The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, told The Post that "the president is proud of the White House and its rich history."
According to The Post, Trump has often invited members of Congress to see the Lincoln Bedroom after dinners. A guest who once went on one of these tours told the newspaper that Trump pointed out Abraham Lincoln's desk and bed and said, "I don't know how he slept there," as Lincoln "was a really tall guy!"
Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian, told The Post that most presidents have wanted to "keep parts of the White House private for their families and themselves." But Trump, he said, is "very restless and doesn't like desk work."
"He'd rather roam around and B.S. with people than hunker down," Brinkley said.
