WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has often been dubbed a political wrecking ball for his unorthodox style — and now the U.S. president has literally started demolition work on the White House.

Work crews began tearing down part of the East Wing on Monday as the former property mogul said work had formally commenced on a huge new $250-million ballroom.

A mechanical excavator had ripped through the facade of the East Wing, leaving a tangle of broken masonry, rubble and steel wires, AFP journalists at the scene saw.

Trump said as he hosted college baseball players at the White House on Monday that “right on the other side you have a lot of construction that you might hear occasionally.”

The 79-year-old later officially announced that work had started on the ballroom, the biggest addition to the

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