Donald Trump has unveiled a crackpot excuse to tear down the East Wing.
The president claims that his cherished White House ballroom is really a facade for a six-story underground fortress featuring a military hospital, classified meeting rooms, and top-secret research facilities. He claimed that it will be the “greatest drone empire that you’ve ever seen.”
The 79-year-old president made the startling claim as he took reporters on a tour of the ballroom construction site and spilled details about the ever-expanding project.
In a jaw-dropping disclosure, Trump told reporters that his $400 million White House ballroom was in fact just a “shield” for a massive multi-level subterranean bunker he was quietly building below.
“We went down six stories. It’s actually far more complex,” he said.
“They’re building a hospital—it’s a military hospital—they’re building all sorts of research facilities, they’re building meeting rooms.
“The ballroom is really a shield and protecting all of the things that are being built here,” he added, pointing to the giant hole in the ground where construction was taking place behind him.
The president openly discussed the extent of his pet vanity project for the first time. Revealing that it will go far beyond—and cost way more—than the Mar-a-Lago style event space that was initially pitched.
But the revelations have drawn criticism, as well as conspiracy theories that he is building the facility to cling on to power.
“Trump is going to use the ballroom as a bunker. He’s not planning to leave the White House even after the 2028 presidential election,” Democrat and strategic consultant Sergio Grant wrote on X, echoing the fears of many others.
Other features of the project included titanium fencing so strong that “a bulldozer cannot knock it over”, Trump said, windows four inches thick and “9,000-pound concrete.”
There would also be a hardened roof made of “impenetrable steel” and enough space to accommodate what he described as a “drone empire.”
“The entire roof is built for military," Trump said.
“They have a massive drone capacity. Not only is it drone-proof, if a drone hits it, it bounces off, it won’t have any impact. But it’s also meant as a drone port that would protect all of Washington.”
The president’s tour of the ballroom construction site was not initially part of his daily schedule. In a highly unusual move, Trump also provided reporters on the tour with breakfast sandwiches made by the White House chef.
The extended sales pitch was made as the president faces mounting scrutiny over how the project is being financed.
Since it was first flagged last year, the ballroom’s price tag has expanded from $100 million to $400 million.
Trump initially argued that the ballroom was needed for large events of 1,000 people, which is far more than White House event spaces can currently accommodate.
The president also originally promised it would be privately funded through wealthy donors and corporate backers, with “not one dime” of taxpayer money.
But after a third assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month, Senate Republicans proposed a separate $1 billion federal funding package for Secret Service “security adjustments and upgrades”, suggesting that Americans ought to foot the bill.
That effort hit a roadblock over the weekend when Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled the funding provision could not remain in Republicans’ reconciliation package as drafted, finding the massive construction project violated budget rules.
The truth about Trump’s militarized ballroom pitch may have been exposed as he tried to explain the financing. He said his donors were paying for the main ballroom, while the public money Republicans were asking for in Congress centered on “surrounding areas and maybe enhancing some security aspects of it.”
Asked why the ballroom was so important to him, the former real estate mogul replied: “Number one: security; and number two, it’s needed just on a social basis for presidents.
“When this opens, I’ll be here for a very short period of time. This is really being built for other presidents, it’s not being built for me,” he said.
“There will never be anything like this.”
