Recommendations of the Editorial team
Donald Trump has claimed that the massive ballroom he is building on the White House wouldn’t cost taxpayers a single cent. Not surprisingly, the president seems to have lied from the start.
Documents obtained by The Washington Post show: The White House has known for months that the ballroom will cost far more than the $200 million that Trump publicly announced last July – and that taxpayers will cover a significant portion of the construction costs.
A project summary obtained by The Post shows that the White House was presented with a bid in early March from Clark Construction – the general contractor hired. A total price of 600 million dollars was calculated, with taxpayers expected to cover around half of the construction costs. Clark budgeted $293 million from “private sources,” and also expected $155 million from the Secret Service and $149 million from the White House Military Office. In late March, Trump publicly said the ballroom would cost $400 million – doubling his 2025 estimate – and would be “tax-free.”
Documents refute Trump’s statements
The documents directly contradict months of gaslighting by the president and his allies. Additional cost estimates available to the Post demonstrate the project’s ever-increasing price range since it was first conceived – and the consistent expectation that Americans, not just the private corporate donors that Trump relies on, would help finance the project. Invoices obtained by The Post show that Clark Construction had already received about a dozen payments from federal accounts totaling tens of millions of dollars — all while Trump insisted there would be no taxpayer money. In the earliest estimate obtained by The Post, dated July 2025 – before the ballroom had even been announced – Clark estimated that more than $100 million in federal money would be needed to complete the project.
The ballroom funding debate escalated in May when Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee sought to approve $1 billion in taxpayer funding to underwrite the project. The move sparked a small uprising within the Republican Party and added to growing public discontent.
The Post’s report comes just days after Trump hosted a $60 million UFC fight on the White House lawn that doubled as his own birthday party. While the event was funded by the UFC and for-profit corporate partners, at least several million dollars of it will come from taxpayer funds allocated to security agencies such as the Secret Service. While the White House has not been transparent about its own cost breakdown, local Washington officials told ESPN that the city expects to spend between $10 million and $12 million in federal funds for additional security costs.
Gift only for Trump allies
The event, billed by the president as a “gift to the American people” to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, was a private event – and most of those invited were wealthy allies of the president and loyal MAGA influencers. The average consumer either had to watch the whole thing on screens on the Mall in front of the White House or subscribe to Trump ally David Ellison’s Paramount+ to watch the event from home.
It is a gift to America only in the sense that Trump thinks of himself as the nation — and his friends and allies as the only constituency to which he is committed. In this spirit, America’s 250th birthday celebration on the National Mall on July 4th will be an official Trump campaign event. Happy Birthday, America.