On July 31, the White House released an announcement with renderings of a luxurious ballroom with gold accents. However, there were gaps in the details.
5 ways White House banquet planning changed
President Trump has always had extravagant plans for renovating the White House ballroom, but the scope of the project continues to expand.
President Donald Trump’s desire to build a ballroom in the White House predates his first presidential term, which began about a decade ago and spanned three presidencies.
However, concrete plans remained elusive until July.
After months of teasing the idea of a “new, big, beautiful” ballroom like the one at his beachfront mansion, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, President Trump has the blueprints ready.
On July 31, seven months into President Trump’s second term, the White House made the following announcement with an image of a luxurious banquet hall with gold accents.
It also detailed the construction cost and completion date. But the details proved flawed, as the Americans discovered when bulldozers began demolishing the east wing on October 20.
Here are five things that changed or evolved as the White House ballroom plans got underway.
1. From “Tributes to the Man Known as Donald J. Trump” to Additional “Patriot Donors”
On February 6, as President Trump stood before a crowd of elected officials, guests and children gathered under a crystal chandelier in the East Room to watch him sign an executive order banning transgender women and girls from participating in women’s sports, he said he was reminded of an old idea.
“This room is full,” he said, telling the audience that he had offered to build a banquet hall for about $100 million during the Obama and Biden presidencies. It would have been a donation from him.
“This was going to be the reception room,” he said of his proposed idea for the renovated East Room, which would serve as an entrance to the ballroom. He also said the space could be a “cocktail area.”
At just under 3,000 square feet, the East Room is the largest of the staterooms and the only room that spans the entire width of the Executive Mansion.
On June 6, President Trump posted on Truth Social that he “toured the site of the new ballroom being built at the White House” (a compliment to the man known as Donald J. Trump in the White House).
However, a White House announcement in July announced that several other people were joining the movement.
“President Trump and other Patriot donors have been generous in contributing the funds needed for the new addition,” the paper said.
Donors included U.S. companies that do business with the U.S. government, including Palantir, Lockheed Martin, and Meta.
2. A 90,000 square foot ballroom that can accommodate 650…900…999 people?
The White House said in a July announcement that the ballroom will be a “great, much-needed addition” totaling approximately 90,000 square feet.
The newspaper said the “carefully crafted space” will have a capacity of 650 people, a “significant increase” from the 200-person capacity of the White House’s East Room.
In September, President Trump told NBC News in an interview that the new banquet hall would be larger than originally described, with a capacity of 900 people.
“We’re making it a little bit bigger. It’s going to be as good as you can get anywhere in the world,” he told NBC News.
As a result, the number of seats has increased by 40%.
By October, President Trump was saying the venue could hold 999 people, as he said at a donor appreciation dinner in the ballroom on Oct. 15.
“We’re going to build a room where you could literally hold an inauguration if you wanted,” he said.
3. The cost of the White House ballroom will jump 50% in three months.
The previous estimate for construction of the banquet hall was $100 million, but that had doubled by the July announcement. After all, it had been a decade since Trump first proposed it.
The White House said in a July announcement that Trump and other donors “have generously committed to contributing the funds necessary to build this approximately $200 million dollar structure.”
Trump has frequently touted his experience as a real estate developer who is good at building things. ”On budget and on time,” he said, adding that it would cost $250 million by September.
Then, on October 21, while demolition of the east wing was well underway, President Trump announced that the banquet hall would cost $300 million.
He said the “expensive and beautiful building” would cost “about $300 million.”
“We’re going to do a lot of things, including meetings of foreign leaders and recognition of foreign leaders,” he said.
White House releases list of donors to $300 million East Wing banquet hall
The White House has named 37 donors for the $300 million East Wing Ballroom project, including major technology companies, wealthy benefactors and major corporations.
4. Accusations of East Building Demolition and Lack of Transparencyy
When the White House first announced plans for the ballroom on July 31, President Trump told reporters that the 90,000-square-foot addition “will be built on the east side and it’s going to be beautiful.”
“You’ll have a view of the Washington Monument. It won’t be in the way of the current building,” he said. “It’s close, but it doesn’t touch it, and it has complete respect for the existing building. I’m the biggest fan of that.”
Less than three months later, bulldozers removed the entire East Wing of the White House. As President Trump originally described the project, the construction was no longer “near” the portion of the building that historically housed the first lady’s office.
A White House announcement in July said, “The new ballroom will be located on the site where the smaller, significantly altered and rebuilt East Wing currently stands,” but made no mention of any plans for demolition.
Immediately after the demolition, President Trump rejected accusations that he was not transparent about the scope of the work, telling reporters on October 22, “I think we’ve been more transparent than anyone has ever been.”
Asked why the facade was demolished even though the president said construction of the ballroom would not touch the east wing, a White House official said the scope and scale of the project was “subject to change at any time” as the “process evolves.”
President Trump told reporters on October 22 that the decision to demolish the entire building came after “a tremendous amount of research with some of the best architects in the world.”
“To do it properly, we had to tear down the existing structure,” Trump said.
5. The White House says no approval is needed to demolish the East Tower.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles reportedly said in a July announcement that the executive branch is “committed to working with the appropriate organizations to preserve the special history of the White House.”
However, the National Capital Planning Commission, which provides architectural and zoning advice to Washington, D.C., and approves various federal construction projects, had not been asked for permission to demolish the East Tower.
The move drew the ire of preservationists and critics, including former first lady Hillary Clinton, who said Trump was “destroying” the White House.
Asked for a response, a White House official told USA TODAY that the National Capital Planning Commission does not have jurisdiction over demolition, only construction. Therefore, officials said the demolition does not require or require NCPC approval.
Carol Quillen, president of the National Trust for Preservation, said in a letter to the National Capital Planning Commission, National Park Service and Fine Arts Commission that she was concerned about the size of the buildings being added.
Quillen wrote that the 90,000-square-foot new construction “would overwhelm the White House itself” at 55,000 square feet, adding that “(the addition) could also permanently disrupt the White House’s carefully balanced classical design with its two small, low east and west wings.”
The White House said it would submit construction plans to the NCPC “in the near future.”
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent. You can follow her at X @SwapnaVenugopal.
