In an odd twist, President Donald Trump made an argument for his ballroom after a shooting broke out at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD). The event at the Washington Hilton Hotel was alleged by many reporters in attendance to have lax security measures.
Trump posted on his social media, “What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE.”
There has been substantial criticism against the president’s demands for a ballroom. The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued Trump to halt his privately funded White House ballroom project in late 2025. Although the project is still ongoing, the trust argued in a US District Court to block the project until it goes through design reviews. They also believe that the modificiations should be approved by Congress.
In light of the shooting, Trump also criticized the ongoing lawsuit against his ballroom initiative. His post continued, “The ridiculous Ballroom lawsuit, brought by a woman walking her dog, who has absolutely No Standing to bring such a suit, must be dropped, immediately. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
The trust suing him is concerned about the preservation of the historical sites affected by Trump’s project. His construction has already taken down the East Wing of the White House. It was a space historically used by first ladies for social functions.
Trump’s Justice Department weighs in
Even Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s acting attorney general for the Justice Department, decided to parrot the administration stance. He also issued a statement on X, saying that the trust “should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit,” arguing that the construction of the ballroom is a matter of the president’s safety.
With the attack, many other administration supporters have also been arguing for its necessity. Needless to say, it’s a strange angle—many other WHCDs happened outside of the White House before. This is the first time that an assassination attempt against the president took place during the dinner.
Political commentators online have already criticized the attempt on Trump’s life as a “false flag”—or a staged event. This is unproven, but the sudden appeal for a ballroom is definitely odd. The administration appears to be grasping at straws to justify the otherwise unnecessary project.
Lax security at the WHCD
Reporters who attended the dinner had stories about the event having lax security. Bill Melugin, a correspondent from Fox News, posted on X. He said of the security procedure, “I flashed my ticket and was waved through in one second. My name was not checked against any list, I showed no ID, I was not patted down, and I did not go through a metal detector. I probably could have shown a ticket from a prior year or a fake one, as they barely looked at it.”
Melugin also noted that additional checks only took place outside of the dinner room. This included passing through a magnetometer, emptying pockets, and getting frisked.
Others, like Misha Komodovsky from DW News, also said the same, citing that he only needed to show a ticket to get into the ballroom of the Washington Hilton Hotel.
This is hardly the time to be bringing up a White House ballroom. The question that must be asked is, who needs to be held accountable for the ineffective security planning?
(featured image: The White House)
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