As the Trump administration’s deadline to get approval for its $400 million White House ballroom looms, insiders have revealed how the president plans to navigate the project through a lengthy review process.
The ballroom needs to be approved by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts before construction can get underway. However, it’s reported that Donald Trump thinks he can clinch this by early March. Construction on the ballroom would begin just weeks later.
The White House is reportedly making plans to accelerate the process even further.
Trump officials told The Washington Post that former Trump appointees could be invited to rejoin the CFA after their four-year terms were cut short by the Biden administration.
Members of Trump’s inner circle also told the publication that loyalists to the president could also be parachuted into top jobs despite having little arts expertise, in order to expedite the process.
The commission is also set to review other projects in Washington D.C., including Trump’s huge ceremonial arc.
A meeting with administration officials and members of the NCPC and the CFA was already held on December 19. Formal applications were submitted a week later, a White House official confirmed to CBS.
The next step for the Trump administration is a public informational meeting with the NCPC, scheduled for January 8. A CFA meeting has been scheduled for a week later.
According to CBS, the final step will include a presentation to the CFA on February 19. The final NCPC meeting will follow on March 5.
In the meantime, the National Park Service said in a court filing last month that construction on the ballroom will not begin until “April 2026, at the earliest,” according to E&E News.
Trump has been locked in a court battle over his ballroom for several weeks, after the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit against his administration in December.
The trust suggested that Trump failed to complete the legally required reviews for the project and had yet to receive congressional approval for his plans.
“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Joe Biden, and not anyone else,” the Trust’s complaint read.
The cost of Trump’s ballroom has ballooned to $400 million, double the $200 million price tag he floated.
The ballroom will be funded with private investment, with Amazon, Apple, and Google all pouring money into the project.
Although construction has not yet begun on either his ceremonial arch or his ballroom, Trump says that the public “loves” both projects.
“It hasn’t started yet. It starts sometime in the next two months. It’ll be great. Everyone loves it,” Trump told Politico. “They love the ballroom too. But they love the Triumphal Arch.”
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