President Donald Trump has been harboring a simmering hatred of the FBI headquarters in D.C., calling it “one of the ugliest buildings in the city,” according to a Sunday Axios report.
“Even the building is terrible,” he said to an unnamed source. “It’s one of the brutalist-type buildings, you know, brutalist architecture. Honestly, I think it’s one of the ugliest buildings in the city.”
“This is prime real estate, right on Pennsylvania Avenue,” he reportedly added. “This is a great address. They need to stay there. But it needs a total revamp.”
Per Axios, Trump told Chief of Staff John Kelly that he wants to be intimately involved in the remodeling, down to the cost per square foot.
The FBI has not drawn up a new building plan and Congress has not approved any money for the project, but a senior White House official told Axios that FBI officials are “working with [the General Services Administration] for optimum design for the Bureau’s needs and at lowest budget, fastest timetable, etc.”
