After the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, Donald Trump and several Republicans are now focused on completing the ballroom construction. He argued that the shooting at the Washington Hilton would not have happened in the ballroom.
The administration wants to finish Trump’s ballroom for the security of current and future presidents. While the construction of the project, whose estimated cost rose from $200 million to $400 in cost, has been paused due to an ongoing lawsuit, Trump has called for the lawsuit to be dropped.
In addition, Republican senators Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), Katie Britt (Alabama) and Eric Schmitt (Missouri) introduced a plan to authorize federal funding for the project. This means taxpayer dollars could be used for the project.
Lindsey Graham says they are going introduce legislation that’s going to authorize 400 million dollars to be spent on building the ballroom: We pay for it by offsetting it with customs fees. The sooner we get the ballroom built, the better it is for the country. pic.twitter.com/aYS3Pi07gT
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 27, 2026
Graham said, “We’re going to introduce legislation that will authorize $400 million to be spent to build a presidential ballroom. We pay for it by offsetting it with customs fees, but the estimate is $332 million. We’re going to do $400 million, ‘cause I think it’s probably going to take more. Private donations can be used, but I think they should be used for buying China stuff like that. The sooner we get the ballroom built … the better it is for the country.”
Earlier, Trump had claimed the ballroom would be built entirely without taxpayers’ money. He wrote, “Will be the Greatest Ballroom ever built, now rising at the site of the White House — Fully paid for by American Patriot Donors. ZERO cost to our United States Taxpayers!”
Trump on the White House ballroom (February):
“We did this with no charge to the taxpayer whatsoever. This was all donations by friends of mine and people who love our country, love the White House.
Not one penny. And it’s very expensive ballroom” https://t.co/YpnJjjs0XH pic.twitter.com/pUWPB5C5gb
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 28, 2026
Needless to say, the proposal sparked anger and confusion online among netizens who haven’t forgotten that the administration was not going to use American citizens’ money for the project. One social media user asked, “So, we are paying for the ballroom now? What happened to all the donations??” Another one posted, “Oh, but wait, MAGA has spent weeks insisting this ballroom wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime.”
President Donald Trump’s top allies are pushing for Congress to fund a costly White House ballroom after the president was evacuated from a dinner Saturday in a sprawling hotel ballroom where a gunman breached a security checkpoint.
But Republicans are divided on whether to make… pic.twitter.com/IaBh8OZxDk
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) April 28, 2026
Ron Filipkowski of MeidasTouch mentioned that he made a similar prediction months ago. NBC’s senior White House correspondent Garrett Haake posted on X, “The President has repeatedly said the ballroom is fully paid for already by private donations, and by himself.” The conflicting statements have fueled questions about how the ballroom project will ultimately be funded.
