White House ballroom price tag increases to $300 million

The price tag for President Trump’s new White House ballroom has increased from $200 million to $300 million, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Thursday.

Mr. Trump mentioned that the cost of the ballroom was $300 million while in the Oval Office with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte Wednesday, a $100 million increase from what the White House originally said the 90,000-square-foot ballroom would cost.

Ms. Leavitt said “there are changes over time” and that the White House will continue to update the public about any changes to the project, most of which she said is being privately funded.

“Just trust the process,” she told reporters. “This is going to be a magnificent addition to the White House for many years to come, and it’s not costing the taxpayers anything.”

Asked if the increased cost includes upgrading the security bunker located under the East Wing, Ms. Leavitt left open the possibility that the government would be responsible for covering some expenses, saying, “like any security enhancements that are made on the White House grounds, those will be made and maintained by United States Secret Service.” 

The entire White House East Wing has been demolished by Thursday, as shown by pictures flooding the internet. 

Mr. Trump said later Thursday he had raised close to $350 million for the ballroom, but wouldn’t say how much he was personally giving to the project.

“I’ll donate whatever’s needed,” he said.

The photos of the demolition have been met with mixed reactions. The National Trust for Historic Preservation said it worries that the size of the ballroom will “overwhelm” the White House.

“We acknowledge the utility of a larger meeting space at the White House, but we are deeply concerned that the massing and height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself—it is 55,000 square feet—and may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings,” Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the Trust, said in a statement. 

“We respectfully urge the administration and the National Park Service to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes, including consultation and review by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, both of which have authority to review new construction at the White House, and to invite comments from the American people,” she said.

Asked about Mr. Trump’s previous statements that the White House structure wouldn’t need to be changed for the new ballroom, Ms. Leavitt said the president previously made it clear that the East Wing would need to be “modernized.” 

“The plans changed when the president heard counsel from the architects and the construction companies who said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many, many years to come, for it to be a truly strong and stable structure, this phase one that we’re now in was necessary and the president wants to do right by the people’s house,” she said.

The new ballroom is being paid for by the wealthy friends of Mr. Trump and the president himself, and the White House has said repeatedly that it won’t cost taxpayers a dime.

The White House released the full list of the donors Thursday, including many who have done business with the government. The donors are:  Altria Group Inc.; Amazon; Apple; Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.; Caterpillar Inc.; Coinbase; Comcast Corporation; J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul; Hard Rock International; Google; HP Inc.; Lockheed Martin; Meta Platforms; Micron Technology; Microsoft; NextEra Energy Inc.; Palantir Technologies Inc.; Ripple; Reynolds American; T-Mobile; Tether America; Union Pacific Railroad; Adelson Family Foundation; Stefan E. Brodie; Betty Wold Johnson Foundation; Charles and Marissa Cascarilla; Edward and Shari Glazer; Harold Hamm; Benjamin Leon Jr.; the Lutnick family; The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation; Stephen A. Schwarzmann; Konstantin Sokolov; Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher; Paolo Tiramani; Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss.

The president hosted many of the donors for a dinner at the White House last week to thank them for their contributions.