Trump is putting his 'touches' on the White House with flagpoles, art and an Oval Office overhaul

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is putting his “touches” on the White House with new flagpoles, new artwork, an overhaul of the Oval Office decor and possibly covering up the lawn in the Rose Garden.

Trump, a former real estate developer and hotelier, said Wednesday that he's adding two “beautiful” flagpoles to the grounds to fly the American flag in about a week.

The Republican president recently hung new artworks featuring himself, including a rendering of him with his fist raised after last year's attempted assassination in Pennsylvania. He has redecorated the Oval Office by adding portraits of all of his predecessors, a wall-mounted copy of the Declaration of Independence that is shielded by dark drapes and many golden accents.

Trump has also talked about paving over the lawn in the Kennedy-era Rose Garden.

He even remarked on the grass on Wednesday, telling reporters he recalled a recent event where “the grass was very wet and it was very hard for people to stand on the grass. They got their shoes all ruined.”

All families granted the privilege of living in the White House try to find ways to leave their mark on the property, and Trump isn't any different.

Near the end of his first term, he and first lady Melania Trump unveiled a refurbished tennis court and a new pavilion on the south grounds. Michelle Obama's vegetable garden is still producing.

But Trump is a “real estate developer at heart” and is always looking to improve the White House, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump took an impromptu stroll outside toward the Pennsylvania Avenue fence with head groundskeeper Dale Haney and other staff members. Asked what he was doing, Trump said he was scoping out a location for a flagpole.

He told reporters afterward that he's installing two “beautiful” flagpoles on the grounds because “they've needed flagpoles for 200 years.” He said the poles would be “paid for by Trump" and could be installed as soon as next week.

The American and POW/MIA flags fly on the roof of the White House every day. Trump had them lowered on Monday after Pope Francis' death.

Trump pledged in his inaugural address to preside over a “golden age of America.” But he appears to have ushered it first into an Oval Office he has redecorated by adding golden accents to the fireplace, doorway arches, walls and other areas of the room. It hasn't gone unnoticed.

“I really must say the Oval Office has never looked better," Paul Atkins, the new Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, said Tuesday after his ceremonial swearing-in there. “One could really describe it as glistening, and I’ve heard stories about it. It’s true. It’s the touch of a confident president, leading with optimism towards an American golden age.”

Every president adjusts the office decor to their liking, often with new furniture, rugs, draperies and other items. Some hire decorators. Former President Joe Biden had one of his brothers handle it.

Trump seems to have directed the process himself.

“I've done some ‘Trump touches’ to the Oval Office,” he told the championship Ohio State football team when he invited them for a tour after he hosted the players and coaches last week. “It's a little nicer than it used to be, I think.”

Earlier this month, Trump hung a portrait depicting a moment after last summer's assassination attempt, thereby bumping the official portrait of former President Barack Obama to another wall in the foyer.

The new painting was donated by Andrew Pollock, who lost his daughter Meadow in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Another image of Trump now hangs on the ground floor between the official portraits of former first ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.

Revealed in a social media post by first-year Rep. Jimmy Patronis, a Florida Republican, the image of Trump features the red, white and blue of an American flag superimposed over the president’s headshot on a black background.

The White House on Wednesday confirmed that the image is real.

Trump also wants to pave over the lawn in the famous Rose Garden, which was created during the administration of John F. Kennedy after he was inspired by gardens he saw during a 1961 state visit to France.

Presidents have long used the space for everything from big announcements to Thanksgiving turkey pardon ceremonies.

He shared his plan with Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham as he showed her the Oval Office while taping an interview in March. The Rose Garden is just outside and Trump complained about the lawn always being “soaking wet” and inconveniencing “the women with the high heels.”

“The grass just, it doesn’t work,” Trump told Ingraham, adding that it would be covered with “gorgeous stone.”

Ingraham asked if the roses would stay. Trump said they would.

“It’s a rose garden. All of this stays,” he said, explaining that only the lawn would be affected. “I think it’s going to be beautiful. I think it’s going to be more beautiful.”

Paving over the lawn would mark the second makeover of the space under Trump.

In 2020, Melania Trump announced an update of the garden, with the most visually striking change being the addition of a 3-foot (0.91-meter)-wide limestone walking path bordering the central lawn. Less noticeable alterations included improved drainage and infrastructure, and accessibility for people with disabilities. Audiovisual and broadcasting fixes were also made.

President Donald Trump, left, speaks with Dale Haney, head White House grounds keeper, right, and others, about a new flagpole on the North Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A replica of the Declaration of Independence is pictured during a swearing in ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, April 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump, left, talks with Dale Haney, head White House groundskeeper, right, as he stands on the North Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump, center, waving as he walks with staff members on the North Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump, second from left, stands along the fence line at the North Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump stands on the North Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Ukraine’s musicians can’t escape war, even at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Rock band Ziferblat were in Basel, Switzerland to represent their country when they learned the home of backing singer Khrystyna Starykova in a frontline region of eastern Ukraine had been destroyed by Russian shelling.

“She’s so strong,” said guitarist Valentyn Leshchynskyi, who formed Ziferblat with his vocalist twin brother Daniil and drummer Fedir Khodakov. “She is 19 years old only, but the impact of this situation — I think she won’t give up.

“Of course it’s difficult when you’re losing your flat while you need to stay calm to celebrate here because it’s a musical festival, it’s not about the war.”

The band is set to compete for Ukraine in Saturday’s Eurovision grand final with “Bird of Pray,” a song whose intense vocals and prog rock sound owe something to the 1970s – as does the bell-bottomed pink suit Daniil Leshchynskyi wore in Tuesday’s semi-final.

Valentyn Leshchynskyi said the lyrical message of loss and hope, centered on a phoenix-like bird, resonates with what Ukrainians experienced in recent years.

“We want to build a dream on the stage – even for three minutes, for Ukrainians – like the war will be over in the very near future,” he told The Associated Press.

Ukraine is a longtime Eurovision competitor – as was its neighbor Russia. Both saw their relationship with the continental pop contest transformed by Moscow’s full-scale invasion three years ago.

Russia was kicked out of Eurovision. Ukrainian folk-rap group Kalush Orchestra won the 2022 contest less than three months after the invasion. Winning brought the right to host the contest the following year. When war made that impossible, Liverpool stepped in to stage Eurovision with a distinctly Ukrainian flavor, decking out the English city in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.

Even before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine used Eurovision for cultural diplomacy, as a way to tell the world about their country’s history, music and language. Ukrainian singer Jamala won the contest in 2016 — two years after Russia illegally seized Crimea — with a song about the expulsion of Crimean Tatars by Stalin in 1944. Kalush Orchestra’s winning song “Stefania” blended rapping in Ukrainian with a haunting refrain on a traditional Ukrainian wind instrument.

Now the message is that Ukraine is still standing, and still fighting.

Daniil admitted to feeling a “little bit of pressure” ahead of Saturday. But he said it was “such a privilege” to represent Ukraine.

“We have two missions here,” his brother Valentyn said. One is to come out at or near the top in Saturday’s 26-nation musical showdown. The other is “to remind Europeans about the war.”

As part of its Eurovision journey, the band is fundraising to buy robotic de-mining systems to help clear an area of Ukraine he says is 3 1/2 times the size of Switzerland.

Ziferblat’s trip to Eurovision coincided with Vyshyvanka Day — the third Thursday in May, when Ukrainians around the world wear traditional embroidered shirts as a symbol of national pride.

The band members joined scores of Ukrainians clad in elaborately stitched vyshyvanka in a Basel park to eat borscht, sing Ukrainian songs and cheer on the band ahead of Saturday’s final.

“This is a day that is gathering all Ukrainians together,” Valentyn said. “In Kyiv, the capital, everyone is wearing these shirts and going to the streets celebrating and you feel like a united nation for one day.”

Associated Press journalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this story.

Eurovision competitor band Ziferblat from Ukraine eats traditional food during a family meeting of Ukrainian people in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

People from Ukraine hold a giant Ukrainian flag during a family meeting with their Eurovision band Ziferblat in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Ziferblat from Ukraine performs the song "Bird of Pray" during the first semi-final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Eurovision competitor band Ziferblat from Ukraine gives an interview to the Associated Press during a family meeting of Ukrainian people in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Eurovision band Ziferblat of Ukraine sings their national anthem with Ukrainian people during a family meeting in a park in Basel as part of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest week, in Basel, Switzerland, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)