President Donald Trump broke off from a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago Monday to once more brag about his new $400 million White House ballroom.
Having hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at his Florida estate Sunday to consider a 20-point peace plan to end Russia’s invasion of his homeland, Trump in turn welcomed Netanyahu for their sixth in-person meeting of the year to discuss security in the Middle East.
But the American soon veered off topic into attacking Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over his renovation of the central bank’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“We have a fool at the Federal Reserve, I mean, [former president Joe] Biden reappointed him. It’s too bad,” Trump said of Powell, a man he himself appointed in November 2017 during his first term.
“You would have thought [Biden] wouldn’t have done that. But [Powell’s] an absolute fool who’s building a new Federal Reserve, or he’s doing a renovation of a building. Maybe he’s up to $4.1 billion to do a renovation of a few very small buildings. It’s the highest price in the history of construction.”
The president’s figure for the renovation project dwarfs the very highest reported estimates, which put the cost closer to $2.5 billion.
The Fed has justified the undertaking by noting that its premises have not undergone a significant upgrade since they were first opened in the 1930s.
Trump went on to threaten a “gross incompetence lawsuit” against Powell over the high cost.
He subsequently pivoted to his under-construction ballroom, which necessitated the demolition of the East Wing of the White House and, unlike the Fed project, did not undergo a public review process via the National Capital Planning Commission to secure approval.
“I’m doing a magnificent, big, beautiful ballroom that the country has wanted, the White House has wanted for 150 years,” the president said.
“It's a massive job, and it’s a tiny fraction of that number. And we’re under budget and ahead of schedule.”
“Now, it’s bigger than I told you,” he continued. “It’s... After realizing we’re going to do the inauguration in that building... It’s got all bulletproof glass. It’s got all drone, they call it drone-free roof. Drones won’t touch it. It’s a big… It’s a big, beautiful, safe building.”
It was not previously known that the next presidential inauguration ceremony is intended to be held in the ballroom. The Independent has reached out to the White House for more details.
Elsewhere during Monday’s meeting with Netanyahu, Trump was caught on a hot mic complaining to his guest about not getting credit for ending wars and not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Do I get credit for it? No,” the president griped as the audio kicked in mid-sentence. “They gave the Nob… I did eight of them. How about India and Pakistan? So I did eight of them. And then I’ll tell you the rest of it.”
Neither summit yielded a definite announcement for Trump on ending the violence in Ukraine and Gaza, frustrating his desire to be seen as a peacemaker, which comes despite ongoing U.S. aggressions against Venezuela and a surprise missile strike on alleged ISIS militants in Nigeria on Christmas Day.
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