Over the summer, the Trump administration announced that it would construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the White House, which press secretary Karoline Leavitt described to reporters as a “much-needed and exquisite addition.” Not surprisingly, a rendering looks very Versailles-esque and includes an unrestrained use of the color gold; though the room was initially expected to have a seating capacity for 650 people, Trump later said it would hold 900.) In a statement that she may or may not have been contractually obligated to release, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told the public: “President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail.” Following the announcement, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wondered aloud. “Where’d this money come from? Did Congress appropriate it? I don’t think so. It’s almost like DOGE was never about waste.” In September, CBS reported that a collection of individual and corporate donors—including Google, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir—had pledged to donate nearly $200 million for construction costs.
Last month, when a reporter asked how he was “holding up” in the wake of the death of Charlie Kirk, Trump responded, “I think very good,” before quickly shifting focus to the ballroom. “And by the way,” he said, “right there, you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they’ve been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years. And it’s gonna be a beauty. It’ll be an absolutely magnificent structure.”
*Will Jimmy Kimmel file a similar lawsuit over his show having been temporarily suspended following comments by Trump’s FCC chair about doing things “the easy way or the hard way”? Stay tuned!
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