Overview
- President Trump posted Sunday on Truth Social calling the White House a “dump,” attaching before-and-after photos and new interior renderings to promote recent repairs.
- Work continues across the grounds after the East Wing was demolished for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom and the South Lawn gained a permanent helipad.
- Trump insists the ballroom is paid for by him and private donors, but contracts and planning documents reported by multiple outlets put the ballroom’s cost at about $600 million.
- The president has described technical features such as roughly 4‑inch bulletproof glass, a drone port and a deep subterranean complex, and a Republican proposal for large Secret Service spending drew procedural pushback in Congress.
- Preservation groups and plaintiffs have filed litigation and lawmakers are probing the program, leaving the projects subject to legal rulings and continued budget and oversight scrutiny.