Trump installs pair of 88-foot-tall new flag poles at the White House

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President Donald Trump said the flags were a gift from him.

WASHINGTON ― Massive new flag poles hoisting United States flags have been installed on the White House grounds after President Donald Trump said they were desperately needed and that he would pay for them himself.

The placement of the two 88-foot-tall flagpoles — one on the north lawn and one on the south lawn — began early in the morning of June 18.

A U.S. flag was later raised on the south lawn around 1 p.m. at a ceremony that included Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner. The couple was at the White House to watch the swearing in of Charles Kushner, Jared’s father, as U.S. ambassador to France.

“How do you like it, everybody?” Trump said to reporters after the flag reached the top of the pole.

Soon afterward, the second flag pole of identical height was installed on the north lawn. A few hours later, after thunderstorms rolled through Washington D.C., a second flag with the same dimensions was raised.

Presidents have long put their own mark on how the White House is decorated, and Trump, who built his personal brand flipping commercial properties, is no exception.

“It is a GIFT from me of something which was always missing from this magnificent place,” Trump said in a social media post. “Hopefully, they will proudly stand at both sides of the White House for many years to come!”

Trump said he paid out of his own pocket to install the poles, which cost about $50,000 each.

Trump: ‘Now I’m the hunter’

This week, the White House traded a bust sitting in the Oval Office of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. for one of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Trump said earlier this year he’d like to see a new ballroom built in the White House.

When asked what gave him the idea to install the flag poles, Trump said he first considered the flags during his first term but blamed distractions caused by the media for getting in the way.

“I was the hunted. And now I’m the hunter,” Trump told reporters on June 18. “It’s a big difference.”

Contributing: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy.

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