Donald Trump has complained that a “stupid” lawsuit forced him to reveal plans to build a top-secret military base underneath his White House ballroom.
The 79-year-old president was defending his $400 million vanity project while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, after a New York Times article over the weekend exposed the shoddy nature of its construction and design.
While holding comically large placards detailing how the completed ballroom might look, Trump also gave updates on what is being built beneath the area where the White House East Wing once stood.
“The military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed,” he said.
“The ballroom essentially becomes a shed [shield] for what’s being built under the military, including from drones, and including from any other thing,” Trump added. “The glass, or the windows, you see the big windows, the glass is extremely thick. It’s high-grade bulletproof glass, so all of the windows are bulletproof.”
The lawsuit Trump referenced was filed in December 2025 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is asking a federal judge to halt construction of the ballroom until it undergoes multiple independent reviews, passes environmental assessments, and receives approval from Congress.
A federal judge said he will rule by the end of March on whether to issue an injunction stopping conStruction of the project pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
Trump also lashed out at the lawsuit for forcing the administration to reveal its plans to build an underground military bunker beneath the ballroom in a typically unhinged Truth Social post in January.
“It is being done with the design, consent, and approval of the highest levels of the United States Military and Secret Service. The mere bringing of this ridiculous lawsuit has already, unfortunately, exposed this heretofore top secret fact,” Trump wrote.
An underground bomb shelter beneath the old East Wing, built during World War II, was demolished in October to make way for Trump’s ballroom.
The vanity project is being built as tens of millions of Americans suffer through a cost-of-living crisis exacerbated by Trump’s war on Iran.
On Sunday, the Times reported that multiple experts also condemned the proposed design of the mammoth building, noting that it includes a staircase that doesn’t lead anywhere, columns that will block the view of its windows, and the 90,000-square-foot ballroom that is “unnecessarily” large.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt lashed out at the report and accused it of being written by “three random people who have ‘studied fine arts’ and ‘long written about urban planning.’”
“President Trump and his lead architect have built world-class buildings around the world, and they are ensuring the People’s House finally has a beautiful ballroom that’s been needed for decades—at no expense to the taxpayer,” Leavitt posted on X.
