donald trump has stated that the massive ballroom he is looking at White House It wouldn’t cost taxpayers a cent. Unsurprisingly, the president appears to have been lying all along.
According to documents obtained by Washington Post, The White House has known for months that the ballroom It would likely cost much more than the $200 million he initially conveyed in July of last year, and taxpayers would have to foot a significant portion of the construction costs.
A summary of the project obtained by the Mail shows that in early March, the White House received a quote from Clark Construction (the contractor chosen to lead the project) estimating a price tag of $600 million for the project, with taxpayers expected to shoulder about half of the construction costs. Clark estimated that $293 million was expected to be obtained from “private sources” and listed that he expected to receive $155 million from the Secret Service and $149 million from the White House Military Office. In late March, Trump publicly declared that the ballroom would cost $400 million (double his estimate of $200 million by 2025) and would be “taxpayer-free.”
The documents directly contradict months of deception by the president and his allies. Other cost estimates obtained by the Mail They show the rising price tag of the project since it was first conceived by Trump, and a continuing expectation that Americans, not just the private corporate donors the president says he has lined up, would be contributing to the project. Invoices obtained by the Mail showed that Clark Construction had already received about a dozen payments from federal bills totaling tens of millions of dollars, even as Trump ruled that taxpayers would not spend on the project. In the first estimate obtained by the mail, dated July 2025, even before the ballroom was announced, Clark says more than $100 million in federal funding would be needed to complete the project.
Concerns about ballroom funding arose in May, when Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee wanted approve a billion dollars into taxpayer funds to help secure the ballroom. The suggestion sparked a small revolt among Republicans and added to growing public disapproval.
He MailThe report comes just days after Trump hosted a UFC fight for $60 million on the White House lawn that also served as a birthday celebration for him. While the event was funded by the UFC and for-profit corporate sponsorships, at least several million of that amount will come from taxpayer funds dedicated to security agencies like the Secret Service. While the White House has not been transparent about its own spending breakdown, local D.C. officials he told ESPN that the city expected to spend between $10 and 12 million in federally appropriated funds on additional security costs.
The event, billed as a “gift to the American people” by the president in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, was by invitation only, and most of those guests were wealthy allies of the president and loyal MAGA influencers. Normies had to watch from mall screens outside the White House or pay a subscription to Trump ally David Ellison to access Paramount+ so they could watch the event from home.
He is a gift to America only in the sense that, in Trump’s mind, he is the nation, and his friends and allies are the only constituency he feels obligated to serve. In that spirit, the United States semi-quincentennial celebrations this July 4 will be an official event victory rally on the National Mall. Happy birthday, America.
