Outside the White House on Thursday, in the carnival atmosphere just outside the north gates, a woman bearing the sign that read “Geneva” shouted, over and over again, “The demolition is illegal! The demolition is a federal crime.”

Inside, at the White House briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Donald Trump ‘s demolition of the East Wing as very legal, even if that meant, as a reporter suggested, that he could “tear down whatever he wants.”

The sounds and images of heavy construction equipment ripping apart one of the most historic places in the United States, though, have put the White House on the defensive. In response to alarm and outrage from preservation groups and Democrats to some Republicans, Trump’s team has scrambled to point out the renovations of past pr

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