President Donald Trump gloated over the rapid progress being made on the White House ballroom, less than a day after the Supreme Court said that he could continue building the vast structure - for now.
The president posted a photo Saturday morning on Truth Social of the first floor nearing completion with walls rising on the second floor. In the background, the White House can be seen, dwarfed by the 90,000 square-foot structure.
“Tremendous work has been done on the magnificent BALLROOM/MILITARY COMPLEX being built on the grounds of the White House!” Trump wrote. “Presidents have wanted this for 150 years, and so has everyone else.”
He also boasted the project “will be paid for with ZERO Dollars of Taxpayer Money” – a claim disputed by Washington Post reporting which found that the administration was using more than $300 million from taxpayer-funded departments and agencies to pay for parts of the ballroom.
Trump has become fixated on the ballroom project in his second term with repeated posts on Truth Social, and press conferences and interviews disgressing into the topic.
The proposed ballroom has met with pushback from groups, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit, which sued to stop its construction. The group claims the president must obtain congressional approval first.
But after two lower courts ruled in favor of the trust and ordered Trump to halt above-ground construction until Congress approves it, the Supreme Court stepped in Friday to side with the president.
In the court order, Chief Justice John Roberts allowed the Trump administration to temporarily continue construction on the project while the justices consider intervening in the ongoing lawsuit. As is typical with emergency orders, Roberts did not explain why he was allowing Trump to continue construction.
The Trump administration has argued the ballroom is necessary for national security purposes because it sits above a sprawling underground bunker, containing a medical facility and emergency operations center and below a drone-proof roof.
Lower courts have said the national security-related construction can continue, but the ballroom itself needs approval from Congress. However, the administration argues it’s all related to national security.
Despite Trump’s consistent claims that his ballroom is fulfilling long-held wishes for past presidents and others, a July poll from the Washington Post/Ipsos found that 65 percent of U.S. adults said they were dissatisfied or upset with Trump’s renovation projects.
The ballroom is just one of several projects the president has undertaken in his second term.
Trump has bragged about repairing, restoring and cleaning monuments and statues around the nation’s capital. He boasted about renovating the bathroom attached to the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House, showing off the new gilded and white marble room.
The president is also pushing to build a triumphal arch in Washington, D.C., to mark America’s 250th anniversary.
