President Donald Trump is pushing back on reports that the White House ballroom project is running over budget, insisting the expansion is actually ahead of schedule and costing less than critics claim.
On Truth Social Wednesday, Trump explained that the original $200 million proposal for the ballroom on the East side of the White House was simply too small to handle necessary events, meetings, and future inaugurations. So they doubled the size and upgraded the quality, bringing the revised cost to under $400 million. He accused the "Fake News" of ignoring those necessary changes and creating a false impression of a cost overrun.
"Highest quality completed project will be something less than 400 Million Dollars," Trump wrote, emphasizing the project is coming in under budget and ahead of schedule.
The president's comments come after California Governor Gavin Newsom and investor Spencer Hakimian raised alarms about the ballooning costs. Newsom questioned the reported increase after a $1 billion Secret Service funding allocation sparked claims of a taxpayer-funded ballroom. Hakimian posted on X that Trump's ballroom would now cost $1 billion and be fully taxpayer-funded, sharing a screenshot of a federal budget provision.
On Tuesday, a long-term immigration and border patrol funding bill by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) showed $1 billion appropriated to the U.S. Secret Service for "security adjustments and upgrades" within the White House perimeter, including the "East Wing Modernization Project" with above- and below-ground security features. The bill explicitly states: "None of the funds made available under this section may be used for non-security elements of the East Wing Modernization Project."
When Trump first unveiled the ballroom plans last year, he said it would host large events at the White House without costing taxpayers anything. After the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting incident in late April, Trump called the ballroom a security necessity, arguing its design could have prevented the incident and urging construction to move forward without delays.
