The Washington Post reports that the White House knew the president's vanity project would require federal funding

Donald Trump has claimed that the massive ballroom he’s affixing to the White House wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime. Unsurprisingly, the president seems to have been lying through his teeth since the beginning. 

According to documents obtained by The Washington Post, the White House has known for months that the ballroom would likely cost much more than the $200 million he initially broadcast in July of last year, and that taxpayers would be on the hook for a significant portion of the construction costs. 

A project summary obtained by the Post shows that in early March, the White House was presented a quote from Clark Construction — the contractor tapped to lead the project — calculating a $600 million price tag for the project, with taxpayers expected to shoulder about half of the construction costs. Clark priced in an expected $293 million to be obtained from “private sources,” and listed that it expected to receive $155 million from the Secret Service, and $149 million from the White House Military Office. In late March, Trump publicly stated that the ballroom would cost $400 million — doubling his 2025 estimate of $200 million — and be “taxpayer-free.” 

The documents directly contradict months of gaslighting by the president and his allies.  Other cost estimates obtained by the Post show the increasing price tag of the project since it was first conceived by Trump, and a consistent expectation that Americans — not just the private corporate donors the president claims to have lined up — would be paying into the project. Invoices obtained by the Post showed that Clark Construction had already received about a dozen payments from federal accounts totaling tens of millions of dollars even as Trump insisted there would be no taxpayer spending on the project. In the earliest estimate obtained by the Post, dated to July 2025, before the ballroom was even announced, Clark floats that over $100 million in federal funding would be required to complete the project. 

Funding concerns over the ballroom erupted in May, when Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee wanted to approve $1 billion in taxpayer funds to help secure the ballroom. The suggestion triggered a minor revolt among Republicans, and added to the growing disapproval from the public.

The Post’s report comes just days after Trump hosted a $60 million UFC fight on the White House lawn that doubled as a birthday celebration for himself. While the event was paid for by the UFC and for-profit corporate sponsorships, at least several millions of that amount will come from taxpayer funds dedicated to security agencies like the Secret Service. While the White House has not been transparent about its own spending breakdown, local D.C. officials told ESPN that the city expected to spend between $10-12 million in federally allocated funds on additional security costs . 

The event, billed as a “gift to the American people” by the president in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, was invite-only, and most of those invitees were rich allies of the president and loyal MAGA influencers. Normies had to either watch from screens on the mall outside of the White House, or pay out a subscription to Trump ally David Ellison for access to Paramount+ in order to watch the event from their home. 

It’s a gift to America only in the sense that in Trump’s mind, he is the nation, and his friends and allies are the only constituency he feels compelled to serve. In that spirit, the celebrations of America’s semiquincentennial this July 4 will be an official Trump rally on the National Mall. Happy birthday, America.