President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that the military is building a “massive complex” under the White House ballroom.
The information “has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed, but the military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that’s under construction, and we’re doing very well,” Trump told reporters on Air Force Once. “So we’re ahead of schedule.”
News outlets previously reported that a military bunker under the East Wing would be renovated. The East Wing was demolished in October for the president’s $400 million ballroom, sparking criticism from many Democrats and preservation advocates.
Trump told reporters in his Sunday remarks that “the ballroom essentially becomes a shed for what’s being built under.”
The president touted the ballroom plans, showing reporters pictures of the design renditions and defending the new event space as “almost a twin to the White House.”
Showing reporters another picture of the ballroom design, Trump said, “I thought I’d do this now because it’s easier.”
“I’m so busy that I don’t have time to do this, but I’m fighting wars and other things,” he added. “But this is very important, because this is going to be with us for a long time, and it’s going to be, I think it’ll be the greatest ballroom anywhere in the world.”
Last month, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit from a preservationist group that sought to stop the Trump administration from continuing construction of the 90,000 square foot ballroom. The judge said that the National Trust for Historic Preservation would have a better chance at winning the claim if the group changed the arguments in the lawsuit.
The National Capital Planning Commission is set to vote on the ballroom plans in April. It has received a deluge of negative public comments about the ballroom, with critics calling it “appalling,” “shameful” and “hideous.”
