Trump defends White House renovations and rebuts Obama’s joke

Former US President Donald Trump defended recent renovations to the White House on Monday, responding to a joke made by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

In a social media post, Trump said the changes were necessary and dismissed Obama’s comment that the building now looked “like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.” He added that the renovations were being carried out responsibly and would not affect the functioning of the executive office.

After issuing his remarks, Trump boarded a plane bound for a campaign rally in Mississippi, where he is expected to address supporters ahead of the upcoming US mid‑term elections.

In a separate development, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media that Ukraine’s stock of Patriot interceptor missiles was dwindling. He said the delay was due to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s pending approval of additional supplies, noting that Ukraine had been waiting “nearly a month” for the sign‑off.

Zelenskyy indicated that his team would raise the issue again with US officials and that discussions with other countries were also ongoing.

Source: The Guardian. Photo: cottonbro studio / Pexels.