Overview

• The White House unveiled plans for a 650-seat, 8,400-square-meter ballroom attached to the East Wing, featuring gold chandeliers and a light-toned aesthetic inspired by Mar-a-Lago.
• The project’s estimated $200 million cost will be covered by Trump and unnamed private donors, not federal appropriations.
• Construction is scheduled to begin in September with a target completion before the end of Trump’s second term in January 2029.
• Press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the ballroom as a legacy project fulfilling a 150-year demand for a permanent large event space on the White House grounds.
• Critics, including New York Magazine and Governor Gavin Newsom, have derided the plan as extravagant and ill-timed given debates over social spending cuts and rising living costs.