President Trump said the new White House ballroom will be larger and more expensive than previously proposed.
“The White House Ballroom is going up rapidly on the East side of the White House. The only reason the cost has changed is because, after deep rooted studies, it is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal, which would not have been adequate to handle the necessary events, meetings, and even future Inaugurations,” he wrote on Truth Social. “The original price was 200 Million Dollars, the double sized, highest quality completed project will be something less than 400 Million Dollars. It will be magnificent, safe, and secure! This was a necessary change, it was done long ago, but the Fake News failed to report it, trying to make it look like there was a cost overrun. Actually, it is coming in ahead of schedule, and under budget!”
The statement comes as the Senate included ballroom funding in its reconciliation package. The legislation limits use of the funds to “security adjustments and upgrades, including above-ground and below-ground security features,” and bars spending on “non-security elements of the East Wing Modernization Project.”
President Trump previously announced that the ballroom will have a “big complex” underneath it. “Now the military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed, but the military’s building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that’s under construction and we’re doing very well,” Trump said, describing the ballroom as a “shed.” He added, “We have all bullet-proof glass, we have drone-proof roofs, ceilings.”
