President Trump has claimed that the U.S. military is “very much involved” in the construction of his $400 million ballroom at the White House.
The current commander-in-chief tore down the historic East Wing last year in order to make room for the 90,000 square-foot construction project. The move sparked a huge backlash with lawmakers and officials on Capitol Hill.
However, speaking on Fox News’ The Five yesterday, Trump was optimistic about the project.
“I am building the ballroom, and it’s a very big thing with the military and everything else. The military is very much involved,” Trump said over the phone. “It’s a big, big deal, and it’s great. It’s going to be beautiful.”
The president did not elaborate on how the U.S. military is involved in the project.
During a cabinet meeting on the same day, the president made another claim about the military’s involvement with the ballroom.
“Now it's no secret the military wanted it more than anybody,” Trump said at the meeting. “It was supposed to be secret, but it became unsecret because of people that are really unpatriotic saying things.
“But, it doesn't matter, it doesn’t matter. It's going to be great.”
The president added that the ballroom will be paid for by “rich people” and “zero taxpayer dollars.”
Trump has previously said the project will cost $400 million, although he thinks he will “do it for less.”
“I will do it for less, but just in case, I say 400 otherwise, if I go $3 over, the press will say it costs more,” he said in December 2025.
The full donor list for the ballroom was released in October 2025, with several Big Tech giants, including Amazon, Apple and Google, chipping in. Other companies listed included Lockheed Martin, Palantir Technologies, and T-Mobile.
There has been an intense backlash against the ballroom project, with the National Trust for Historic Preservation suing the Trump administration in December to stop construction.
In January 2026, the White House wrote in a court filing obtained by CNN that stopping the demolition of the East Wing would “endanger national security and therefore impair the public interest.”
The reasoning for this was given as a “classified declaration” related to the case.
The East Wing once sat atop the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a command-and-control bunker built for administration officials to contact the outside world in the event of an emergency.
However, a source told CNN that all “subterranean structures” beneath the site appear “to be gone.”
According to a White House press release, AECOM will lead engineering for the ballroom, while Clark Construction will oversee construction of the site.
The complex’s design was overseen by renowned architect Shalom Baranes, who criticized Trump’s immigration policies as recently as this month.
“What’s happening now is heartbreaking,” he told The New York Times. “I do hope there’s a realization at some point that this country depends on immigration.”
An exact completion date for the ballroom has not yet been given, although the White House has previously said that construction would be completed “long before” Trump leaves office in 2028.
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