Jill Biden Says East Wing Was 'Dingy and Dull' When She Moved Into White House, Claims Melania Trump 'Didn't Use the Office to Work In'

Former First Lady Dr. Jill Biden criticized the condition of the White House East Wing during her predecessor Melania Trump's tenure, describing the workspace as "dingy and dull" upon her arrival in 2021.

On the September 1 episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast, "Dinner's on Me," Biden reflected on the demolition of the East Wing.

She expressed deep sorrow over the building's eventual demolition, using the podcast appearance to share the personal and institutional attachment she felt toward the space during her time as first lady.

"I got emotional when you were talking about the East Wing because that's something that doesn't exist anymore. I was thinking about it, you know, you are documenting the last moments of what that was, a huge part of our history,” Ferguson said.

She described the environment as lacking energy and warmth.

Dr. Biden explained she immediately set out to revitalize the space to make it functional and welcoming, saying, “I was the last first lady who worked in that office. I loved the East Wing.”

Dr. Biden shaded the ex-model's frequent absence from her office, saying, “And when we moved in there, the previous inhabitant hadn't used the office to work in. So it was kind of dingy and dull, and I said, 'I can't bring people here.'"

In her 2026 memoir, View From the East Wing, and subsequent media appearances, Dr. Biden detailed her strained and "frosty" relationship with the current FLOTUS.

She described a highly tense, awkward car ride with the mom-of-one from the White House to the Capitol for Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

Escorted by John Bessler (husband of Sen. Amy Klobuchar) — whom Dr. Biden joked must have drawn "the shortest of all possible straws"— Melania was "stone-faced" and refused to engage in substantive conversation.

Jill noted that whenever anyone tried to ask about other topics, including how her son, Barron Trump, was liking New York University, Melania repeatedly dodged the questions and "kept trying to switch the topic to the weather.”

The 75-year-old former FLOTUS wrote that she thinks Melania's icy demeanor stems from the 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, as Melania "blamed Joe [Biden] personally for the FBI searching through her private spaces.”

Despite the tension, Jill noted that she felt compassion for Melania regarding the raid, having gone through a similar document search at her own Wilmington, DE, home. She wrote, “I knew how distressing it was to have agents rummage through your underwear drawer.”