Trump’s White House Ballroom Sparks Questions About Funding and Ethics

The White House announced on July 31 that a 90,000-square-foot ballroom to serve as an “event space” for state dinners and special occasions would be built at a cost of $200 million, and that Trump and “other patriot donors” would pay for the structure. The president has said repeatedly that he would pay for the ballroom. In mid-September, he also increased the estimate of its cost, telling reporters, “I’m paying for it. The country is not – and that’s an expensive ballroom. I think it’ll cost $250 million.”

On Oct. 22, Trump increased the estimated cost of the ballroom to $300 million.

We’ve received many emails from readers asking about the cost and the source of funding for the ballroom being constructed as part of the White House complex.

On Oct. 15, the president hosted a dinner at the White House to raise funds for building the ballroom. Among those attending the affair were representatives from Amazon, Apple, Caterpillar, Coinbase Global, Comcast, Google, Lockheed Martin, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies and T-Mobile, as well as “wealthy supporters” of Trump’s presidential campaign, the New York Times reported.

Trump Advances $250 M East Wing Demolition Amid Government Shutdown — Federal Workers Left in Limbo

As the Donald Trump administration presses ahead with plans to tear down the East Wing of the White House for a new private-donor-funded ballroom, thousands of furloughed federal workers remain unpaid and uncertain amid the ongoing shutdown.

WASHINGTON | In an unexpected and contentious move, the Trump administration has initiated full-scale demolition of the East Wing of the White House as part of a privately funded project to build a sprawling new 90,000-square-foot ballroom, even while hundreds of thousands of federal employees sit idle during a government shutdown. 

The project — championed by President Trump — was initially presented as a modest modernization. But according to internal administration sources, the entire East Wing is slated for destruction and replacement, contradicting earlier public assurances that the historic structure would remain largely intact. 

At the same time, nearly 800,000 federal workers have been furloughed or forced to work without pay since the lapse in congressional funding on October 1st. 

Despite a 2019 law — the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 — guaranteeing back pay after a shutdown, the administration is reportedly questioning automatic compensation for furloughed employees, introducing further uncertainty for the federal workforce. 

Federal employees in agencies adjacent to the East Wing say they were directed not to photograph or document the demolition activity — raising concerns over transparency and the treatment of workers whose jobs remain in limbo.