Trump designates Oval Office as a national monument

As of 10:13 p.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026

President Donald Trump on Thursday, Nov. 5, signed a proclamation under the Antiquities Act establishing the Oval Office National Monument, covering the Oval Office, the Outer Oval Office and the Cabinet Room in the White House West Wing.

The full text, posted on whitehouse.gov, cites section 320301 of title 54 of the U.S. Code. It says the monument consists of the Oval Office (Room 110), the Outer Oval Office (Rooms 106 and 108) and the Cabinet Room (Room 105), and that those boundaries are the smallest area compatible with protecting the historic spaces.

The secretary of the interior, acting through the National Park Service, is directed to manage the monument, develop a management plan with the White House Office of Administration and other offices, and require documentation and review before any action that would substantially alter or demolish the monument or its essential architectural elements. The proclamation also directs coordination with the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.

Nothing in the proclamation, the text says, restricts the president's authority to redecorate, select furnishings, or make ordinary operational and security modifications that do not substantially impair the monument's historic structure or architectural character. It also says the order does not alter existing statutory exemptions for the White House under the National Historic Preservation Act or diminish Congress's authority over federal property.

What Trump said

Speaking in the Oval Office as he signed the document, Trump said the rooms should not be "touched," "destroyed" or "ripped down," Associated Press reporters Darlene Superville and Collin Binkley reported via PBS NewsHour. Asked about future changes, he told reporters that there should be "no major modification without the approval of Congress," Reuters reported, with reporting by Steve Holland and Costas Pitas.

AFP, carried by The Hindu, quoted Trump saying the proclamation would "make it impossible for anybody ever to destroy this incredible space." Trump has transformed the Oval Office with gold accents since returning to office, Reuters and AP reported.

AP reported that the action does not by itself stop a future president from restyling the office or from rolling back the proclamation, and that Trump has previously reversed national monument designations made by predecessors.