Overview
- Photos and eyewitness reports show heavy machinery tearing down the East Wing facade, and the Treasury instructed employees not to share images of the site.
- Trump announced the project’s start on Truth Social and said it is privately financed at no cost to taxpayers.
- The Associated Press reported no National Capital Planning Commission approval, while the commission’s chair said the agency lacks jurisdiction over federal buildings.
- The ballroom is described as roughly 8,300 square meters with seating estimates ranging from about 650 to Trump’s claim of 999–1,000, styled after Mar-a-Lago with European neoclassical features.
- The East Wing typically houses the first lady’s offices, and the New York Times reported Melania Trump’s staff cleared spaces and relocated as work began; a full donor list has not been released, though reports cite major companies including Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin and Coinbase.