Insiders Blow Up Trump’s New Ballroom Excuse
White House insiders are throwing cold water on President Donald Trump’s attempts to fast-track his vanity ballroom project after releasing critical new information.
Trump, 80, scored a Supreme Court victory last week when Chief Justice John Roberts allowed construction on the project to continue while the high court continues to debate a case to halt it entirely.
The ballroom began as a modest event-space renovation costing an estimated $200 million; however, it has since ballooned to $600 million—with taxpayers expected to cover more than half.
As the case has moved through the courts, Trump has shifted his language, focusing more on national security than the ballroom itself. Trump told reporters last Wednesday it will also have a “bomb shelter” as well as a “drone port” on the roof. He now calls it a “military complex” on social media.
Trump walks out to the site of the helipad being constructed on the South Lawn. Kylie Cooper/REUTERS
“Before we started work, the military came to see me, and they said, ‘Sir, we have an opportunity to do something incredible here, and we’ve been trying to do it for 100 years, but we’ve never had an opportunity like that.’ I said, `Look, go ahead, design what you want,’” Trump told reporters last Wednesday during a tour of the construction.
When the SCOTUS ruling was announced, Trump posted on Truth Social that the construction of the ballroom is “so vital for National Security.”
However, three former officials have now revealed that a highly protected nuclear bunker already exists deep under the White House, and was built over a decade ago.
The existing underground bunker can shelter the president and his top aides in a national security emergency, the three officials said, speaking to the Washington Post on condition of anonymity to protect elements of the facility that have not been previously reported.
Construction of a helipad and ballroom at the White House is reportedly 65 percent complete. Nathan Howard/REUTERS
Buried more than 60 feet beneath the White House complex, two of the officials said the facility was secretly completed during the Obama administration and can accommodate dozens of people for multiple weeks, according to the Post. Previously, the only bunker was known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, or PEOC, built during World War II in 1942 in the basement of the East Wing.
The two sources said the bunker was constructed to withstand a nuclear blast, which would allow the president and his aides to run the country from a secure command center in a crisis.
The existence of a modern military bunker undermines the Trump administration’s legal argument that his ballroom, also with an underground bunker, needs to be built to ensure national security, according to the former officials who spoke to the Post. The Post did not report some key details of the bunker and its secret construction to protect White House security protocols.
Donald Trump posts about the construction of his ballroom, claiming it offers "Great National Security." Truth Social
The Post said the mention of the Obama-era bunker was noted in the 2018 book The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game by journalist Ronald Kessler.
Kessler said the Sept. 11 attacks led to the construction of the new, more secure facility, equipped with a self-contained airflow system and a food supply that could last for months.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Post the construction at the East Wing of the White House is “inextricably tied” to the security of the president.
“Recent events such as the foiled attack on the historic UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House proves exactly why the East Wing Modernization Project is severely needed for large scale events, which include drone proof structures and drone ports among other critical security enhancements,” Ingle said.
In their appeal to the Supreme Court, Trump’s lawyers argued the ballroom was a national security necessity and that any delay in finishing it risked his safety due to the various threats on his life.
That included a suspected Iranian plot to target Air Force One in July, which saw the Secret Service arrange for Trump to switch planes after being shuttled into a catering truck. Joining him on the new flight were aides including Natalie Harp and Dan Scavino, while White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent flew on the original flight Trump was removed from.
The court filing last week also revealed Trump’s ballroom project was deliberately built with material used in nuclear power plants, making it “virtually impossible to deconstruct.”
“Quite frankly, if the building were tragically ordered to be taken down, or even altered, by the court, there would be no way to do so,” Solicitor General John Sauer said.
The lawyers also said the project was around 65-per cent complete.
During his White House tour last Wednesday, Trump said, “The ballroom is so much a military component with the drones and the bomb shelters and everything else that we have in there.”