Trump now says his ballroom will cost $300M and the entire East Wing of the White House will be demolished to make space
President Donald Trump said that his new ballroom will now cost an estimated $300 million and the lofty plans require the White House’s historic East Wing to be demolished, contrary to assurances he gave earlier this year.
Trump admitted the price of his gold-plated 90,000 square-foot ballroom was likely going to cost $100 million more than the initial price tag of $200 million, and it would seat up to 1,000 people, up from 650.
“Nobody’s actually seen anything quite like it,” Trump told reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office. “I think it’ll be one of the great ballrooms anywhere in the world, it’s about $300 million…”
It also emerged Wednesday that the entire East Wing will be demolished “within days,” Trump administration officials reportedly told NBC News.
“In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure,” Trump justified Wednesday.
His latest statements contrast with what he said about it in July, when the president pledged the construction, which he said is being paid for by private funds, “won’t interfere with the current building.”
“It will be near it but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump said at the time.
The president shrugged off criticism that he hasn’t been transparent about the plans and labeled one journalist “a third rate reporter” for publicly challenging him on it.
“I haven’t been transparent? Really?” Trump replied to a question about transparency from Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason.
Tech billionaire Jeff Bezos’s Amazon is among the multi-billion dollar companies bankrolling Trump’s ballroom. Other companies chipping in include aerospace defense company Lockheed Martin and Palantir Technologies.
Construction has already started as demolition crews moved in this week to tear down parts of the East Wing, but the plans are yet to go to the National Capital Planning Commission, of which Trump’s allies now hold a majority on the board.
The plans haven’t landed well with many Americans, according to recent polling. A YouGov poll conducted Tuesday revealed that 53 percent disapproved of demolishing part of the East Wing for the renovation.
Trump’s former presidential opponent Hillary Clinton was among the critics calling him out over the ballroom.
“It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” Clinton posted on social media.
