President Donald Trump walked reporters through the East Wing construction site Tuesday, offering the most detailed public look yet at what is being built beneath the new White House ballroom: a complex stretching six stories underground, equipped with missile-resistant steel, drone defenses, a military hospital, and bomb shelters.
“This goes down very deep,” Trump said, gesturing toward the excavation. “These are already down two floors. That is down about six stories deep. That’s big stuff. Normally, when you build a ballroom, you build it flat. You just throw the ballroom.”
Trump described the structure as built from “impenetrable” steel and four-inch-thick bulletproof glass, using 9,000 pounds of concrete. The flat roof is designed as a “drone port,” he said, capable of housing “unlimited numbers of drones” for air defense coverage across Washington, D.C.
“I hate to use the word snipers, though we have great sniper capacities built for our snipers,” Trump said. “And because of the height, we get a very clear view of everything all over Washington.”
The complex will include a military hospital, research facilities, bio-defense systems, secure telecommunications infrastructure, classified military installations, and bomb shelters. Trump said the ballroom itself is integrated with the security structure beneath it.
“The air conditioning, the heating, the drone capacity, the shield. The ballroom becomes a shield for everything that you see right here,” Trump said.
The administration has described the project as a national security priority, in part due to heightened security concerns following a shooting linked to the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Legal filings in a separate ongoing lawsuit describe plans for “protective missile resistant steel columns, beams, drone proof roofing materials, and bullet, ballistic, and blast proof glass.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has filed suit arguing the administration lacked authority to demolish the existing East Wing. That litigation remains unresolved and has not halted construction.
