Trump designates Oval Office and Cabinet Room for preservation

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday, November 5, designating the Oval Office and Cabinet Room for preservation as national monuments, while saying major future changes should require congressional approval. The proclamation establishes a preservation process but also expressly preserves presidential authority to redecorate and make certain other changes. Trump said he intended to send a request to Congress to ratify the designations. He described the measure as a way to prevent future administrations from substantially altering or removing the rooms, which he said were important symbols and sites of significant decisions. He offered less detail about what specific changes he sought to prevent in the Cabinet Room. The proclamation’s text, released after Trump’s remarks, does not include his stated requirement for congressional approval of major changes. Instead, it says presidents may redecorate, choose furnishings and make ordinary operational or security modifications, provided they do not substantially impair the rooms’ historic structure or architectural character. The document directs the Interior secretary to manage the Oval Office and requires...