Trump leads media tour of ballroom building site as Congress balks at $1bn price tag

Shouting over the banging and clanging sounds from heavy construction equipment, Donald Trump on Tuesday gave a group of reporters a closer look at the construction for the White House ballroom he’s building on the site of the former East Wing to mount a defense of the project that has hit a speed bump in Congress.

The administration has asked for $1bn from taxpayers for security additions on the White House campus, including for the ballroom. But the Senate parliamentarian ruled the proposal could not be included in a bill to fund immigrant enforcement agencies for three years, and several Republican lawmakers have balked at the price tag in an election year where voters are grappling with gasoline, grocery and other prices spurred to new heights by the Iran war and the disruption in oil supplies.

So Trump surprised White House reporters by bringing them to a platform overlooking the construction site on a hot and breezy morning as workers in hard hats and fluorescent yellow vests milled below.

Easels had been set up to display renderings of the ballroom building and at least one of them blew off in the wind. “Give that to me, I’ll hold it,” Trump told an assistant.

“There will never be another building like this built, that I can tell you,” Trump told reporters.

He highlighted the security aspects of the building, notably its “dead flat” roof made of “very strong steel” and said it would be “drone-proof” because “if a drone hits it, it bounces off, it won’t have any impact – but it’s also meant as a drone port, so it protects all of Washington, the roof of the building”.

He said the military would “stay on it” to keep watch over the city.

There would be no air conditioning or other equipment on the roof for safety reasons, Trump said, explaining that all duct work and equipment like it would be hidden within the walls of the complex, which would serve as a “shield” for a military hospital, research facilities, offices for the first lady and her staff, and a full-service kitchen – in addition to a ballroom big enough for 1,000 people.

He said the ballroom building would go six stories underground and was really “complex” because “everything is intertwined”.

“The roof goes with the ground floor, the ground floor goes with the roof. The roof also goes down into the basement,” the president said. “This is one well-knit building. One thing doesn’t work without the other.”

Trump calls the ballroom a ‘gift’ to the country

Trump repeated that the $400m ballroom cost would be covered by donors, including him, and that the work was being done “in strict coordination” with the military and US Secret Service.

“This is not going to be paid for by the taxpayer,” Trump said. “This is a gift to the United States of America.”

But it’s somewhat of an unwanted present, as polling shows most Americans oppose the ballroom, which is embroiled in litigation in federal court. A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found that a majority, 56%, of US adults oppose Trump’s decision to tear down the east wing to make way for the ballroom, while only 28% are in support.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to halt construction until Congress approves plans for the building.

Trump insisted he would have “very little” time to use the ballroom. He recently announced that it would be ready in September 2028, less than six months before his term ends.

“This is really for other presidents,” he said.

Trump sidestepped a question about whether he would kick in any more of his own money if Congress rejects the $1bn funding request.