Donald Trump has been hit with demands for an audit into the spiraling cost of his White House makeover and plans to construct a tacky ballroom.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and several other leading Senate Democrats wrote a letter to the Government Accountability Office raising concerns about the Trump administration’s “transparency, accountability, and stewardship of this national landmark,” The Washington Post reported.
The audit demand arrives after the Post reported that the true cost of Trump’s White House renovation projects, including demolishing the East Wing to build a ballroom, installing a helipad on the South Lawn, and paving over the Rose Garden, will cost at least $927 million.
The eye-watering figure does not even include the other projects the 80-year-old president is involved in around Washington, D.C., including building a so-called “Arc de Trump” or the botched Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation.
In their letter to the Government Accountability Office, the Democratic lawmakers expressed concern that the Trump administration is using hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds for Trump’s obsessions that were not approved by Congress.
Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, wrote that the administration has not “provided any planning details or justifications that would allow for informed consideration of the White House’s plans that would be a prerequisite for authorization or appropriation of funds.”
On Friday, a federal appeals court ordered the Trump administration to halt construction of the president’s White House ballroom. In its ruling, the three-judge panel declared that “whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help.”
Trump is expected to take the issue to the Supreme Court.
It was previously reported that the cost to demolish the White House’s East Wing to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom atop a massive underground bunker would cost around $600 million—three times Trump’s original estimate.
Trump has long assured that the funding for the ballroom project would come from private donors. However, the Post found, citing a contractor estimate, that more than half of this $600 million figure would be paid for by U.S. taxpayers as part of planned “security enhancements” to the White House complex sought by Trump.
Records show that more than $500 million of the total $927 million figure is being funneled from the Secret Service and the White House Military Office to a so-called “White House Repair and Restoration” account, the Post reported.
Around $305 million came from private donations, with another $70 million going into the account from an unknown source.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said: “President Trump continues to implement long-overdue and necessary renovations to beautify the People’s House as we celebrate our great nation’s 250th anniversary of independence.
“Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come,” he added. “The East Wing Modernization Project is inextricably tied to the security of the president, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets.”
