President Trump and Republicans in Congress rallied behind a $400 million ballroom project they had already planned as a security measure in the wake of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.
President Trump says press dinner shooting proves need for White House banquet hall
President Trump said the attack on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner highlighted the need to add a challenging ballroom to the White House.
Within hours of the White House Correspondents Association dinner being interrupted by gunfire on April 25 in a brazen third attempt on President Donald Trump’s life, the president and his allies rallied in support of a $400 million ballroom project that had already been planned as a security solution.
For years, the annual event has been held at the Washington Hilton, but the shooting of a Secret Service agent by a gunman inside the hotel has given new legitimacy to controversial plans to build a massive addition that would dwarf the main White House building itself.
The initiative has already been blocked by a federal judge, later lifted by a federal appeals court, and criticized by Democrats as too expensive and flashy at a time when Americans are struggling with basic costs. Construction of the banquet hall continues while a lawsuit is currently being filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
But the president said on social media on April 26 that the shooting was “exactly why” a “safe banquet hall” with a bunker is needed. The alleged shooter, Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was formally indicted on April 27 on charges of attempted assassination of President Trump and multiple weapons charges. If convicted, Allen could face life in prison.
In an April 26 post on Truth Social, President Trump said, “If there was a secret military banquet hall currently under construction at the White House, this event would never have happened.”
“We can’t build it fast enough. It’s not only beautiful, it has all the highest level security features, there’s no room to sit on a roof full of people without security, and it’s inside the gates of the White House, the most secure building in the world.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News on April 27 that the shooting was “surreal” as the Secret Service rushed him to safety. He said the proposed White House ballroom is a necessary solution because it is located on “the most secure grounds in the world.”
Johnson said there will be no hotel rooms above ballrooms like the Hilton, where the shooter was registered, and that the windows will have “seven-inch thick glass” to provide a safe environment for large events.
“We needed a place, we needed a place like this, and the president continues to point that out,” Johnson said.
In the wake of the shooting, conservative activists online and Republicans on Capitol Hill echoed similar sentiments, expressing concern about the decline in security.
A lawsuit filed in December by the National Trust for Historic Preservation against President Trump and several federal agencies seeks to halt construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, nearly twice the size of the 55,000-square-foot White House. The nonprofit group claims the president should have gotten approval from Congress before bulldozing the East Tower.
Republican lawmakers and the administration are now pushing for quick approval of the plan, which was blocked twice last month by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon. Federal Court of Appeals April 17 The lawsuit allowed construction of the banquet hall to continue, arguing that the work was completely impossible.Horrible profits are made through the courts.
President Trump has argued that Congress and the courts should not intervene because the project is privately funded.
The National Capital Planning Commission, chaired by a Trump appointee, approved the project.
Dozens of notable contributors have released, including Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Google, T-Mobile, and Palantir Technologies. Ethics watchdog groups have raised concerns that such donations could receive regulatory preferential treatment from the federal government, but the White House counters that critics would complain if the project were funded by taxpayers.
In his April 26 post, Trump continued: “The ridiculous ballroom lawsuit brought by a woman walking her dog has no standing to bring such a lawsuit and must be dismissed immediately.” “Nothing should be allowed to stand in the way of its construction, which is well on budget and ahead of schedule!!!”
Justice Department pressures nonprofit organization to drop lawsuit
The Department of Justice is asking the National Trust for Historic Preservation to drop an amended lawsuit over the construction of President Trump’s White House Ballroom.
“Yesterday’s assassination attempt on President Trump demonstrated once again that the White House Ballroom is essential to the safety and security of the President, his family, his Cabinet, and his staff,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said in an April 26 letter to National Trust attorney Greg Craig that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on social media.
Shumate wrote that once the ballroom is completed, presidents and their successors “will no longer have to venture beyond the safety of the outer perimeter of the White House to attend large gatherings in the Washington Hilton Ballroom.”
The letter assumes that the White House Correspondents’ Association will agree to hold its annual banquet in the White House Ballroom in the future, but there is no guarantee. President Trump has previously been absent from annual events.
In his letter, Shumate also told Craig: “In light of last night’s (shooting) incident, my client should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit today.” Mr. Shumate warned Mr. Craig, a former lawyer in President Bill Clinton’s administration, that the National Trust had until 9 a.m. ET on April 27 to withdraw the lawsuit, or the Justice Department would seek to dismiss the case.
The National Trust said it had no plans to drop the case.
Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said in a statement provided to USA TODAY that she is grateful to law enforcement for keeping everyone attending the event safe, but their position remains unchanged.
“We are not voluntarily dismissing the case. This is not putting anyone at risk and respectfully asking the administration to follow the law. Pending the injunction, construction on the banquet hall will continue without stopping until June 5th at the earliest,” Quillen said. “We have always recognized the utility of larger meeting space at the White House.
“Congressional approval is required to legally build, but the administration can seek Congressional approval at any time,” Quillen added.
In response to Shutmate, Craig wrote in an April 26 response letter that claims that the National Trust’s lawsuit “put the President’s life in ‘grave danger'” were inaccurate and irresponsible.
“Simply put, this incident does not in any way endanger the safety of the President, and nothing prevents him from seeking the necessary authorization from Congress at any time as required by the Constitution and federal law,” Craig wrote to Shoemate.
“The National Trust has consistently maintained that this case is not about whether there should be a banquet hall, but whether the president must follow the law,” Craig continued.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
Congressional Republicans are moving rapidly to gain authority and are keeping the court ‘on the sidelines’
Several Republican lawmakers are pushing a proposal through Congress to give banquet halls the green light, saying it is “embarrassing” that the United States cannot host rallies without threats of violence.
“Presidents of any political party should be able to host events in safe areas without attendees having to worry about their safety,” Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) said in an April 26 post on X.
“This is common sense. Let’s do it.”
Mr. Sheehy is seeking unanimous consent to the bill, which would give explicit approval for the construction of the ballroom.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) also said in an April 26 post on X that while Congressional approval is not needed, she is working on ways to ensure construction can proceed.
Some House Republicans tried to include clear language about the project in an immigration spending bill earlier this year.
“I don’t think this project needs Congressional approval, but if activist judges are going to be on the sidelines, then so be it,” Boebert said.
Democrats on Capitol Hill haven’t said much about the ballroom in the wake of the shooting, but at least one, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, has supported the idea. He attended the correspondents’ dinner, but added that Hilton was not prepared to host an event with such important US officials present.
“After last night’s testimony, we should abolish TDS and build a White House banquet hall for just such events,” he said, referring to “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” which is defined as irrational and highly emotional criticism of the president.
Since demolition began, Democrats have largely used the ballroom project as a political piñata.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an April 10 interview with MS Now that the construction represented a “huge disconnect” between wealthy supporters and Americans who are suffering from rising costs. “The kind of people who would spend millions of dollars building a golden banquet hall at the White House for the president’s lavish dinners, and the people from my neighbors in Michigan to the people I meet on the street.”
Other Trump opponents have lamented the plan’s destruction of the historic East Building, which usually housed the first lady’s staff.
“This is not his home,” former first lady Hillary Clinton, who won the 2016 presidential election, said in a post on X last October.
“This is not his home. This is your home,” said Clinton, a former secretary of state. “And he’s destroying it.”
Contributor: Bert Jansen
