President Donald Trump on Wednesday raised the estimated cost of the new ballroom being added to the White House, saying the price tag would be “about $300 million.”
The amount is a $100 million jump from the $200 million price tag announced by the White House in July. Trump previously increased that estimate in September, telling reporters he thought it would cost $250 million.
Newsweek has contacted the White House for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours.
Why It Matters
Construction crews began tearing down the facade of the East Wing on Monday, setting off backlash from critics who say the ballroom is an unnecessary vanity project.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has urged the Trump administration to pause the demolition until a planning commission review was completed, expressing concern that the proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom “will overwhelm the White House itself.”
The White House is 55,000 square feet.
The demolition also led to questions about whether the Trump administration followed proper protocols, but the White House has dismissed the criticism as “manufactured outrage.”
Trump has argued the White House needs a large entertaining space, criticizing the past practice of presidents hosting state dinners and other large events in tents on the South Lawn.
He has said the project will be paid for with private donations and that no public money will be spent on it. But the White House has not released a full list of the donors who have contributed to the project, raising ethics concerns and questions about conflicts of interest.
What To Know
In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump defended the decision to tear down the East Wing after previously saying construction of the ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building.”
“In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure,” he said. He added that the new ballroom would be connected by a “glass bridge” to the main White House building.
The president dismissed concerns that his administration had not been transparent about the project. “Pictures have been in newspapers,” he said. “They’ve been all over the place.”
He also said the ballroom would be “paid for 100 percent by me and some friends of mine, donors.” However, the White House has not released full details about how the project is being funded.
The White House hosted a dinner for donors in the East Room last week, reportedly attended by representatives from companies including Lockheed Martin, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon, Coinbase and Palantir.
Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, oil tycoon Harold Hamm and crypto entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were also on the guest list, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the attendees.
Newsweek has contacted the companies for comment via email.
Some $22 million for the ballroom is coming from Alphabet-owned YouTube’s settlement for a 2021 lawsuit filed by Trump over the suspension of his account following the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
What People Are Saying
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday: “I think it’ll be one of the great ballrooms anywhere in the world. It’s about $300 million. It’s set to do many, many things, including meetings of foreign leaders, including the honoring of foreign leaders.”
Really American, a grassroots political organization, wrote on X: “In a shocking moment, Trump just quoted the cost of the ballroom nobody asked for at ‘$300 million,’ an increase of $100 million dollars over his previous estimate… during a government shutdown. What an atrocious grift.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, wrote on X on Tuesday: “Oh you’re trying to say the cost of living is skyrocketing? Donald Trump can’t hear you over the sound of bulldozers demolishing a wing of the White House to build a new grand ballroom.”
Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said in a statement: “We acknowledge the utility of a larger meeting space at the White House, but we are deeply concerned that the massing and height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself—it is 55,000 square feet—and may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings.
“We respectfully urge the Administration and the National Park Service to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes, including consultation and review by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, both of which have authority to review new construction at the White House, and to invite comments from the American people.”
What’s Next
The White House has said the ballroom will be ready long before Trump’s term ends in January 2029.
