WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Saturday that the new ballroom he’s adding to the White House campus will be larger than originally described, with a capacity of 900 people.
In a brief telephone interview with NBC News, the president said:
A White House statement in July showed the ballroom could seat up to 650 people. That means there has been a nearly 40% increase in planned capacity.
Trump said the ballroom will meet important needs in the busy White House and will avoid foreign leaders and other senior officials heading to tents set up on the south grass for dinner and reception.
The White House estimates it is $200 million. Trump reiterated in an interview that he would personally support additional payments. Just as the White House called them, “Patriots” – “Patriots” are also expected to chip away.
Trump, a former real estate developer, has a personal interest in building the ballroom.
Work has already begun, as Trump told reporters he gathered on the Southern Lawn on Friday.
“You can see all the trucks there,” he said. “They’ve just started building a new ballroom for the White House.”
The Ballroom represents the biggest change to the outside of the White House since the East Wing was expanded under Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942. It replaces the East Wing, which traditionally served as an office space for the First Lady and her staff.
Trump is off the tough week of losing his friend and political ally Charlie Kirk in the assassination. He is scheduled to leave for England on Tuesday, with him and first lady Melania Trump becoming guests at a state banquet hosted by King Charles and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.
Trump will become the first US president to be invited to two state visits. His first was held in 2019 at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth, who passed away three years later.
“I look forward to greeting Charles and Camilla,” Trump told NBC News.
“It’s going to be incredible. That’s a huge honor.”
