Photo: Alamy
President Trump gave the press a tour of the construction site for the new White House Ballroom, dishing surprising details about the scope of the East Wing modernization project and the secrets that will be housed within it.
“It will be something very special,” the president said, highlighting several renderings of the finished product – a large structure built in the familiar Neoclassical style of the White House.
President Trump said that the U.S. military was involved in the construction of the site, building a complex deep beneath the ballroom and installing security measures outside.
He described something called a “drone gallery” that will be built at the “top” of the ballroom, at the “highest point,” alluding to the military’s intention to install high-level drone tech at the site.
President Trump also discussed the military complex being built beneath the ballroom.
“It’s far more complex than the upper, because what you don’t see are the floors that are beneath here, and they have very, very important rooms down there…this was the one opportunity for the military to do something,” the president said.
The bunker goes “six stories underground with military facilities,” and the roof is “drone proof.”
Beyond the depth of the facility, President Trump said the military was also “building a hospital,” and “all sorts of research facilities,” and meeting rooms within the complex.
“The ballroom is really a shield and protecting all of the things that are built here,” the president said.
President Trump said that the ballroom, which seems to be a veritable doomsday bunker, is a “gift” and that it won’t be paid for “by the taxpayer.” He noted that the construction would be funded by himself and private donations.
He explained that congressional funding for the project was for “security,” but noted that the ballroom itself was donor-funded. “…I’ve put up the money to build this building, along with a lot of great patriots,” the president said.
The final price tag on the White House Ballroom has been somewhat difficult to track. As the president pointed out, there is a bifurcation between security-related funding and private-donor construction. Just last week, the U.S. Senate parliamentarian – the chief official advisor to the Senate on standing rules and procedures – struck down a $1 billion proposal that would have funded the Secret Service security asks for the complex under the new ballroom, as well as the White House, the Associated Press reported.
It is likely to be redrafted and resubmitted.
However, President Trump said in early May that the original complete project of the White House Ballroom itself – seemingly independent from the military and security construction – would be “something less than” $400 million.
