The president's comments came as workers erected two 88-foot-tall flagpoles, one on the North Lawn and one on the South Lawn, at the White House on Wednesday.

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.

While President Donald Trump weighs the single most consequential decision of his time in office so far — the possibility of US military intervention in Iran — he’s also completing a personal project years in the making.