Donald Trump showed off the ’24-karat gold’ decorations in his newly revamped Oval Office during a tour this week – and took the opportunity to swat down online rumors they came from Home Depot.
The president invited Fox News‘ Laura Ingraham for a walk-through of his redesigned White House while on a break from a sit-down interview.
He proudly pointed out the gilded details – which had been mocked online as resembling $58 trinkets from the hardware store – saying: ‘You know one thing with gold? You can’t imitate gold. There’s no paint that imitates gold.’
The conservative host then directly asked the president: ‘So these aren’t, like, from Home Depot or something?’
‘No, this is not Home Depot stuff. This is not Home Depot,’ Trump replied.
Ingraham captioned the video on Facebook: ‘In the Oval Office with President Trump and can confirm that it is REAL gold!’
The president has previously bragged about redecorating the Oval Office with ’24 karat’ gold spectacles, including gold medallions over the fireplace, Rococo mirrors hung over the doors, and golden eagles perched on the office side tables.
Nine months into his second term, the golden trinkets are more noticeable during visits from foreign leaders and press conferences.
Donald Trump appeared to deny speculation that the ’24 karat gold’ decorations in his revamped Oval Office came from Home Depot
The president and Fox News ‘ Laura Ingraham took a break from their tense sit-down interview to tour the White House , where he briefly addressed the decor after being mocked online that the decorations were similar to $58 trinkets from Home Depot
Trump claimed he took care of the bill himself for these decorations without costing the American taxpayer a single cent.
However, recent social media posts suggest the decorations are sold by Home Depot as DIY accessors marketed as ‘polyurethane appliqué’ for $58.
The Daily Mail could not independently verify the claims in the report.
Another report by Inside Edition revealed that several of those trimmings are plastic molds purchased at Home Depot that were painted gold.
Ekena Millwork, the brand that made the original trinkets, told Buzzfeed in a statement: ‘We work with several design firms in DC that have worked on the White House and believe these could be our onlays.’
During a previous interview with Ingraham, Trump bragged about the golden angel decorations placed over the Oval Office doorways.
‘It’s angels. They say angels bring good luck, and we need a lot of luck in this country with what they’ve done over the last four years.’
Before entering politics, Trump built a luxury-brand that includes world-class golf courses, penthouse buildings, and private social club resorts.
The Home Depot trinket which appears to be exactly the same as those painted gold in the white house
Another piece that appeared similar to Trump’s collection in the Oval Office
‘It’s made with the highest quality gold and he’s paying for it himself,’ a White House official told the Daily Mail.
In a friendlier moment during the second-part of Ingraham’s two-night conversation with the president, Trump gave Ingraham tours of both the revamped, gold-friendly Oval Office and the Presidential Walk of Fame.
He also confirmed that he has ‘an obligation’ to and will sue the BBC for $1billion over the public broadcaster’s doctoring of his speech on January 6.
Trump also admitted that he has work to do on the price of beef and coffee, saying the latter could be handled by a lowering of his signature tariff program.
The president did criticize his fellow Republicans for doing a poor job of selling his affordability agenda.
‘The Republicans don’t talk about it. Republicans have to talk about the fact that prices are down,’ he said.
Trump was asked which Democrats the Republicans should be worried about in 2028 after having said the previous night that there were some good Democrats.
‘Well, I wouldn’t want to say, because that gives that person an immediate boost,’ he claimed, before bragging about his economy.
Trump faced a tense clash with the anchor after claiming the United States needs foreign workers because it doesn’t have enough talented people in its own workforce
‘The economy is my thing and we have the greatest economy in history.’
However, Trump faced a tense clash with the anchor after claiming the United States needs foreign workers because it doesn’t have enough talented people in its own workforce.
Trump signed an executive order in September that slapped a $100,000 one-time fee on the work visa but he appeared unwilling to consider any further limits during a tense interview with Ingraham.
The conservative host and known Trump ally pressed him on the issue, asking: ‘Does this mean the H-1B visa thing will not be a big priority for your administration? Because if you want to raise wages for American workers, you can’t flood the country with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of foreign workers.’
Trump snapped back: ‘I agree but you also do have to bring in talent.’
‘Well, we have plenty of talented people here,’ insisted Ingraham.
‘No you don’t, no you don’t,’ Trump said.
Ingraham again asked: ‘We don’t have plenty of talented people here?’
Fox News’ Laura Ingraham pressed him on the issue after Trump signed an executive order that put a $100,000 one-time fee but Trump appeared unwilling to put any further limits, leading to a tense exchange
Trump went on to reference a September incident where almost 500 South Korean nationals were arrested in the largest Homeland Security raid in US history as agents descended on a Hyundai factory in Georgia, effectively saying he disagreed with the raid
‘No, you don’t have certain talents and people have to learn,’ Trump explained.
‘You can’t take people off the unemployment line and say, ”I’m gonna’ put you in a factory, go make missiles.”
The US currently awards 85,000 H-1B visas annually on a lottery system, with India understood to account for around three-quarters of these recipients.
Data obtained by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicated that applications for the immigration visa for the upcoming fiscal year fell to around 359,000, the lowest figure in four years.
Ingraham continued to squeeze Trump: ‘How did we ever do it before, when you and I were growing up?’
Trump went on to reference a September incident where almost 500 South Korean nationals were arrested in the largest Homeland Security raid in US history as agents descended on a Hyundai factory in Georgia.
‘Let me give you an example in Georgia. They raided because they wanted illegal immigrants out. They had people from South Korea that made batteries all their lives,’ he said.
Trump effectively said that the raid was a mistake.
‘You know, making batteries are very complicated. It’s not an easy thing and very dangerous. A lot of explosions, a lot of problems. They had like five or six hundred people, early stages, to make batteries and to teach people how to I do it. Well, they wanted them to get out of the kind you’re going to need that, Laura.’
Trump admitted that he and Ingraham disagree on the issue but said he couldn’t expect foreign countries to invest billions in America to take people ‘off the unemployment line’ to do jobs they weren’t trained for.
