The White House has unleashed a frantic new push to move ahead with construction on President Donald Trump’s ballroom, which they now say is also needed to give the aging president a “state-of-the-art hospital and medical facilities.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche delivered the latest startling revelation in a court filing late Thursday that sounded as if much of it had been pulled straight from one of the 79-year-old president’s Truth Social tirades. It hailed the planned $400 million ballroom as a “gift to the People of the United States” that is being hampered only by preservationists suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to halt construction of the project in December after the East Wing was demolished to make way for the 90,000-square-foot ballroom without first obtaining approval. A federal judge blocked above-ground construction, though that order was stayed while an appeals court panel reviews the case, with oral arguments now scheduled for June 5.
In the wake of suspected gunman Cole Tomas Allen’s attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April (which, as usual, was not held at the White House), Blanche publicly pressured the National Trust to dismiss its lawsuit. But the organization refused.
Trump is apparently still smarting from that rejection, as Blanche repeatedly accused the D.C. nonprofit of failing to show an appropriate level of sympathy after the attempted assassination at the dinner.
“Plaintiff refused even to acknowledge the horrific seriousness of that planned massacre, calling it simply the ‘recent incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.’ Enough is enough,” a furious Blanche wrote in the latest court filing.
Arguing that the ballroom project—which is set to include an underground bunker—is vital to prevent any assassination attempts in the future, Blanche fumed that the National Trust suing to stop construction “does not even attempt to argue otherwise.” It only quotes a “few platitudes that suggest security concerns do not impact the [project’s] merits, and disrespectfully downplay[s] the attempted assassination of President Trump, Mrs. Trump, and many others.”
Apparently, all major events post-ballroom construction would be held in the new building, where planners imagine heightened security would protect against any future assassination attempts.
Presidents—“not just President Trump, but all future Presidents—should not be forced to risk the safety of themselves, their families, and their Cabinet,” because of the opposition of the National Trust, Blanche wrote.
Then the surprise: The “Military Top Secret Ballroom” will also feature special underground medical facilities for the aging president, Blanche noted.
“The Project, which includes a state-of-the-art hospital and medical facilities, Top Secret military installations, bomb shelters, structures, and equipment, protective partitioning, and other features—is fully designed to protect the President,” he wrote.
Trump’s ballroom pitch has shifted dramatically since he first announced it as a privately funded endeavor last July, billing it as a much-needed entertainment venue to host visiting guests and diplomats for major events.
The White House reframed the project as an urgent matter of national security after a federal judge said congressional approval would be required for any non-security-related work.
Trump’s repeated claims that the project would be entirely funded by private donors has also disintegrated as the president’s allies in the Senate are now seeking a whopping $1 billion in federal funding for security work related to the ballroom, a move the White House has praised.
The administration is claiming that hundreds of millions of dollars will pay for “bulletproof glass, drone detection technologies, chemical and other threat filtration and detection systems,” while another $175 million will help pay for “improving security for Secret Service protectees.”
Trump, after calling a female reporter who questioned him on the project’s massive price tag a “dumb person” earlier this week, announced Friday that he expects the ballroom to be completed in September 2028.
He insists it “will be the finest facility of its kind anywhere in the U.S.A.”
