Trump, in one of his least relatable moments, boasted during a White House reception in February, “I’m very good at building ballrooms.” He claimed that he’d offered to build the White House “a beautiful, beautiful ballroom like I have at Mar-a-Lago,” for free, but previous administrations didn’t take him up on it. (Surprisingly, this appears to be at least partly true.)
In June 2025, president announced on Truth Social that the White House would soon have a new ballroom, “compliments of a man known as Donald J. Trump.” A month later, White House Press secretary announced that construction would soon begin on a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which would be the biggest renovation to the “People’s House” in decades.
The scope of the project is still unclear. The White House released some artist renderings, but architectural plans have yet to be submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission (which is arguably illegal).
The Trump administration also made contradictory statements on the ballroom’s location. The initial White House press release said it would go up “where the small, heavily changed, and reconstructed East Wing currently sits” — which suggested the ballroom might replace the East Wing, though officials certainly didn’t emphasize that. Later in July, Trump claimed the project, “Won’t interfere with the current building. … It’ll be near it but not touching it.”
Photos of a backhoe ripping through the facade of the East Wing on October 20 suggest Trump wasn’t being entirely truthful:
Photo: Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images
After the images went viral, a White House official confirmed to ABC News that the whole building will be torn down, saying the “entirety of the East Wing will be modernized.”
While the president unilaterally deciding to tear down a huge section of the White House is understandably getting the most attention these days, there are also concerns about who’s paying for all this. Leavitt said Trump would pay for the ballroom, along with “other patriot donors.” The White House has not released a comprehensive list of which corporations and individuals have donated. While Trump put $22 million from a settlement with YouTube into the ballroom fund, it’s unclear how much he’s personally contributed.
