President Trump’s Rose Garden redesign sparks controversy over banquet hall plans
President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden redesign drew mixed reactions and controversy after its release.
Call it “Arc de Trump.”
President Donald Trump announced the new plans at a dinner to thank donors to his longtime passion project: a $250 million, 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom.
On October 15, as guests sat at round tables, he stood behind a podium in the East Room and held up a 3D model of a giant arch reminiscent of Paris’s majestic Arc de Triomphe. He pointed to a table with a map showing the proposed site across from the Lincoln Memorial. This arch serves as the gateway to Washington, DC from Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia through the Arlington Memorial Bridge.
“That’s the Arlington Memorial Bridge,” he said. “And at the end of it, there’s a circle that was built 150 years ago. There’s two columns on one side and two columns on the other side, but in the middle it’s just a circle. And everyone in the past said something was supposed to be built there. But something called the Civil War got in the way, and that’s good reason.”
Trump said he showed off 3D models of the project in three sizes: “small, medium, and large.”
He did not provide further details about how much it would cost, who would fund it, what permits would be needed or when it would be built. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the proposed arch.
Trump went on to list the names of presidents who have worked on various projects in the White House: “James Monroe who added the south portico, Andrew Jackson who added the north portico, Theodore Roosevelt who added the west wing.” “And Harry Truman, who added the Truman Balcony.”
Trump, who has a background in real estate, has made several changes to the White House, including replacing the Rose Garden lawn with a paved patio and painting the Oval Office with gold.
“Real estate is very relaxing to me,” he told guests in the East Room. “Real estate is a very difficult business for a lot of people. I’ve always loved real estate and I’ve always done well in it.”
At one point, Trump assured donors that the banquet would be presented in “exquisite” taste.
“I consider myself an important designer, because they bring things that might be good designers, but, well, what they can recommend is terrible,” he said.
White House officials told USA TODAY that donors at the dinner included representatives from some of America’s biggest companies, including Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Meta and Amazon.
President Trump has for years pushed for a ballroom in the White House that could accommodate large gatherings such as state dinners. He lamented the fact that many of the extravaganzas of the past took place inside tents.
He pitched the idea of building a ballroom to two former presidents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and even said he would build it and pay for it himself.
There was no taker.
When he finally got his second chance to occupy the White House, he announced his intention to build a “beautiful” banquet hall on February 6, two weeks after his inauguration.
He said he would pay the money himself.
But plans evolved over several months, and the White House announced that the $250 million project would be funded by private donors and the president.
President Trump said the banquet hall project was “fully funded” and that “there is still money left” for future projects.
“We’re probably going to use it for Ark or something else down the road,” he said.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent. You can follow her at X @SwapnaVenugopal.
