Donald Trump announced that a 'massive complex' is being built beneath the new White House ballroom. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump announced that a 'massive complex' is being built beneath the new White House ballroom. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump has revealed that the US military is building a “massive complex” beneath the new ballroom at the White House.
Last October, the US President gave his approval for a wing to be bulldozed to make way for a ballroom to host receptions and state dinners.
Trump, alongside otherdonors, is paying privately for the project. Its budget has doubled from US$200m ($350m) to US$400m.
“The military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that’s under construction, and we’re doing very well, so we’re ahead of schedule,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
“It’s part of it, the ballroom essentially becomes a shed for what’s being built under the military [complex] including [protection] from drones and including from any other thing. The glass on the windows is extremely thick – it’s high-grade bulletproof glass.”
Without elaborating further on the proposals, he said information about the plan had emerged “because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed”.
Showing reporters an illustration of the new White House ballroom, Trump said: “We just got these in from the architects. A lot of people are talking about how beautiful the ballroom is.
The ballroom, accommodating up to 1000 people, has sparked controversy over its size and impact. Photo / Getty Images
“For 150 years, they’ve wanted to build a ballroom at the White House, and other presidents have wanted it [for] when we have dignitaries coming, like President Xi of China, or anybody else, and we have very small rooms that are not big enough to handle the kind of capacity that you need.
“This [the ballroom] is the same height as the White House – it’s an incredible fitting. I think it’ll be the finest ballroom of its kind anywhere in the world.
“A lot of people are giving it really good reviews, some are giving it reviews without even seeing the building, because these pictures just came out today.”
Trump said he was “so busy” that he thought it would be easier to reveal the illustrations on Air Force One.
He continued: “I don’t have time to do this. I’m fighting wars and other things. But this is important because this is going to be with us for a long time.”
The US President has previously been criticised over the plans. Hillary Clinton, his former presidential rival, wrote on social media that he was “destroying” the White House, which was “not his house”.
However, Trump has long complained that the East Room, the property’s largest entertaining space, is not big enough. It holds about 200 people, meaning that guests for state dinners have to be seated in a marquee on the White House lawn or in overflow rooms.
Construction cranes for the new ballroom at the White House. Photo / Getty Images
He has said the ballroom will cover 90,000sq ft and accommodate up to 1000 people.
The design has proven controversial. It will dwarf the executive residence of the White House and block the view from the main building, from Capitol Hill down Pennsylvania Ave.
In October, the President sacked all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts who were reviewing the ballroom proposals. A White House official suggested he wanted members who were “more aligned” with his “America First policies”.
No firm completion date for the ballroom project has been given, but the White House has said it will be “long before the end” of Trump’s term.
The National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to take a final vote on approving the plan on Thursday. It was unanimously approved by another panel, the Commission of Fine Arts, after being discussed for 12 minutes.
Eager to leave his mark on the US capital, Trump has also renamed a performance venue as the “Trump-Kennedy Center”, and plans to build a grand arch in Washington inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
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