Trump labels opponents of White House ballroom project as 'disloyal'

President Trump has claimed that those opposing his White House ballroom project are “disloyal” to the United States.

The ballroom is at the center of a court battle over whether work on the project can continue to go ahead, with questions also raised over plans to build a military complex beneath the site.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump dismissed criticism of the costly endeavour, which is being built on the former site of the East Wing of the White House.

“The people that are opposing the ballroom are people that, in my opinion, are very disloyal to our country,” he said. “And I think we’re doing well.

“We’re way ahead of schedule,” he continued. “We’re under budget. It’s going to be the most beautiful ballroom of its kind.”

Trump has long boasted about the ballroom project, even sharing a surreal A.I.-generated video of himself showing former President George Washington around the complex.

“Thank you, George, for some of your brilliant ideas on this great Military Complex/Ballroom,” Trump captioned the video on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump suggested that the military had approached him about the project.

“When I said that I was going to build a ballroom, the military asked if they could see me,” he said.

“And, they say: ‘Sir, we have an opportunity to go down deep into the ground and build a military facility to go with the White House and to go with all of Washington D.C.’ - which would be so valuable.”

“And, all of those things added up, and it became much more than just a ballroom,” he said, noting that officials also floated adding a drone port to the facility.

An appeals court has ordered construction of the ballroom to be halted by August 21 unless Congress green-lights the project. The decision still allows Trump to continue building the underground military facility.

On Friday, his administration officials asked the Supreme Court to allow the ballroom aspect of the project to go ahead.

“Today, the Project is 65% complete in its entirety, and moving quickly toward total completion,” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in his filing.

Speaking on Monday, Trump also defended his wider efforts to beautify the White House, claiming that it had been “let go” before he became president.

“We’re fixing the White House that hasn’t been taken care of,” he said. “The White House was let go. The exteriors were falling apart, the columns were falling apart. The whole place was a mess.”