‘ARC DE TRUMP’: New memorial planned outside Arlington National Cemetery to mark America’s 250th birthday

Trump said at a White House dinner late Wednesday, "It’s going to be really beautiful. I think it’s going to be fantastic." The Wednesday dinner was held with donors for the privately funded White House ballroom project.

Trump said that the circle "was built 150 years ago, nobody knows really when, and in fact they put a couple of columns on each side, you have two columns on one side, two columns on the other. But yet, in the middle, there’s a circle and everyone that passes it says something was supposed to be built there. But a thing called the Civil War interfered," which he said was a good reason not to build.

"And then they were, in 1902, they were gonna put a statue of Robert E Lee up. Would’ve been okay with me, a lot of people wouldn’t have liked it, would’ve been okay with me, would’ve been okay with a lot of other people in this room, but they didn’t do that."

"So for years and years it sat, and every time somebody rides over the beautiful bridge going right to the Lincoln Memorial, it's so beautiful, they literally say something supposed to be here."

Showing off models of the plans, he noted that there’s three sizes being considered, with Lady Liberty sitting atop the arch. He said that he liked the largest of the models, joking "why does that shock you."

Architect Nicolas Charbonneau of Harrison Designs shared a watercolor mockup of the design in September, writing, "A proposal for a triumphant arch in DC for America 250, in the traffic circle in front of Arlington National Cemetery. America needs a triumphal arch!"