Supreme Court chief justice allows work on Trump’s $400M White House ballroom to continue for now

Aug 21, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s chief justice is allowing the White House to continue construction on President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project for now. Chief Justice John Roberts signed a temporary order on Friday (Aug. 21, 2026) letting work continue as the court considers an emergency appeal from Trump’s Republican administration. Lower courts had ordered a halt to the project, finding it must have congressional approval. The ruling was set to take effect on Friday. The case is the latest test of Trump’s unprecedented assertion of presidential power to come before the nation’s highest court.

Aug. 19, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump said, “I can’t imagine” the high court would rule against the ballroom he’s building after he was asked about a continuing court fight to block it. Trump criticized the lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which seeks to halt construction until Congress approves the project. A federal appeals court panel ruled Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to build the ballroom and that the work should be halted until Congress can weigh in. The Trump administration argues that previous presidents made changes to the historic property and that Trump doesn’t need permission from Congress. The Supreme Court has not yet announced whether it will hear the president’s appeal. “Hopefully we’ll do very well,” with the justices, Trump said.

Aug. 14, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the White House to continue construction on its $400 million ballroom project while it appeals a lower court’s order to halt the work. Trump’s solicitor general Friday (Aug. 14, 2026) petitioned the high court to suspend last week’s decision by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The divided panel ruled last week Trump must stop the White House ballroom’s construction because Congress has not approved the project. The panel’s majority said Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom where the White House’s East Wing stood before he ordered its demolition last fall.

Aug. 7, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration must stop construction of the $400 million White House ballroom because Congress has not approved the project. Trump blasted the decision Friday (Aug. 7, 2026) as “unjust” while vowing to appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit ruled that Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom where the East Wing stood before he ordered its demolition. The panel upheld an April order from a lower court judge for aboveground work on the project to be halted.

May 21, 2026, update:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators are considering dropping a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump’s ballroom after it has failed to win enough party support on Capitol Hill. The White House has pressured Republicans to try to add the money to a roughly $70 billion bill intended to restore funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. But some Republicans are questioning the security price tag and asking for more detail from the White House and U.S. Secret Service about how the money would be used.

May 21, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republican leaders are expected to abandon a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump’s ballroom on Thursday (May 21, 2026) after members of their own party questioned the timing and the lack of detail in the Secret Service request.

Pressured by the White House, Republicans have tried to add the money to a roughly $70 billion bill to restore funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. But the security proposal met with backlash from some GOP lawmakers who are questioning the cost and how the taxpayer dollars would be used.

The bill’s text has not yet been released, but the Senate hopes to pass it this week and send it to the House before leaving for a weeklong Memorial Day recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged “ongoing vote issues” on Wednesday as leaders tired to measure Republican support, as well as “ongoing parliamentarian issues” as they try to figure out what will be allowed in the bill under the chamber’s rules.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Wednesday that the bill would be “back to square one” without the security money because “the votes are not there.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort to add the security package to the bill was a “bad idea” and he does not think there is enough backing to pass it, even if the cost were reduced.

The wrangling comes as Democrats have criticized Republicans for trying to fund Trump’s ballroom when voters are concerned about basic affordability issues — and as some GOP lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump. Several GOP senators have spoken out against the administration’s $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate Trump’s allies who believe they have been persecuted, and many were upset by the president’s endorsement Tuesday of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the party primary runoff next week against Sen. John Cornyn.

“There’s always a consequence with taking on United States senators,” Thune said Wednesday. The president “obviously has his favorites and people he wants to endorse and that’s his prerogative. But what we have to deal with up here is moving the agenda, and obviously that can become slightly more complicated.”

Republicans could set parameters on Trump’s settlement fund

The “anti-weaponization” fund, part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, has unexpectedly become one of the main complications in the bill. Democrats said they would force votes to block it or place restrictions on it.

Democrats have an opening because Republicans are trying to pass the immigration enforcement bill through a complicated budget process that requires a long series of amendment votes. Democrats are considering multiple amendments, potentially to block that new fund outright or to ban any payments to Trump supporters who harmed law enforcement officers in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Those amendments, along with others, could pass as a growing number of Republicans have voiced reservations about the fund. So Republicans are now discussing their own last-minute additions to head that off, potentially placing some parameters on the settlement and who could receive compensation, according to two people with knowledge of the private discussions who requested anonymity to discuss them.

Thune — who said Tuesday that he is “not a big fan” of the settlement and doesn’t see a purpose for it —- said Wednesday that any new language potentially putting restrictions on the settlement is “a work in progress.”

It’s unclear how any Senate Republican changes would be received in the House, even as some Republicans there have also criticized the settlement.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday that the House will pass the bill “whatever form it takes.”

Tensions rise between Senate and White House

As Republicans challenged the settlement and parts of his agenda, Trump unloaded on the Senate in a social media post.

He urged Republicans to fire the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who said over the weekend that parts of the $1 billion security proposal cannot remain in the ICE and Border Patrol bill. Trump also renewed his long-standing calls for the Senate to pass the SAVE Act, a Republican bill that would require all voters to prove U.S. citizenship, and to end the Senate filibuster.

Republicans need to “get smart and tough,” Trump said, or “you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!”

While they have been loyal to Trump on most issues, Senate Republicans have resisted his repeated calls — even in his first term — to kill the filibuster, which triggers a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.

Hanging over the growing GOP rift is Trump’s surprise endorsement of Paxton. That intervention has Republican senators privately fuming that it could cost them their majority in November as they view the incumbent, Cornyn, as the better candidate in the November general election.

Secret Service request falters as Republicans want more detail

Under the Secret Service’s request, about $220 million would fund security improvements related to the ballroom. The rest would go for a new screening center for visitors, training and other security measures.

Tillis said the bill should not have included the other security improvements “because it’s just giving everybody the ‘billion-dollar ballroom.'”

Several other Republicans in the House and Senate have questioned the request, and senators left a briefing with the director of the Secret Service last week saying they needed a lot more information.

People “can’t afford groceries and gasoline and healthcare, and we’re going to do a billion dollars for a ballroom?” asked Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who lost reelection in his GOP primary on Saturday after Trump endorsed one of his opponents.

Left in the bill is the money for ICE and Border Patrol, which Democrats have blocked for months in protest of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.

Democrats demanded reforms for the agencies, but negotiations with the White House yielded little progress. So Republicans are using the complicated budget maneuver called reconciliation — the same process that allowed them to pass Trump’s tax and spending cuts bill last year — to fund the agencies through the end of Trump’s term with a simple majority and no Democratic votes.

Still, passage requires signoff from the parliamentarian and unity from Republicans.

“We’re working on it,” Thune said as he left the Capitol on Wednesday evening.

May 19, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shouting over the banging and clanging sounds from heavy construction equipment, President Donald Trump on Tuesday (May 19, 2026) gave a group of reporters a closer look at the construction for the White House ballroom he’s building on the site of the former East Wing to mount a defense for the project that has hit a speed bump in Congress.

The administration has asked for $1 billion from taxpayers for security additions on the White House campus, including for the ballroom. But the Senate parliamentarian ruled the proposal could not be included in a bill to fund immigrant enforcement agencies for three years, and several Republican lawmakers have balked at the price tag in an election year where voters are grappling with gasoline, grocery and other prices spurred to new heights by the Iran war and the disruption in oil supplies.

So Trump, ever the pitchman, surprised White House reporters by bringing them to a platform overlooking the construction site on a hot and breezy morning as workers in hard hats and fluorescent yellow vests milled about below.

Easels were set up to display renderings of the ballroom building and at least one of them blew off in the wind. “Give that to me, I’ll hold it,” Trump told an assistant.

“There will never be another building like this built, that I can tell you,” Trump told reporters.

He highlighted the security aspects of the building, notably its “dead flat” roof made of “very strong steel” and said it is “drone-proof” because “if a drone hits it, it bounces off, it won’t have any impact — but it’s also meant as a drone port, so it protects all of Washington, the roof of the building.”

He said the military will “stay on it” to keep watch over the city.

There’s no air conditioning or other equipment on the roof for safety reasons, Trump said, explaining that all duct work and equipment like it was hidden within the walls of the complex, which will serve as a “shield” for a military hospital, research facilities, offices for the first lady and her staff, and a full-service kitchen — in addition to a ballroom big enough for 1,000 people.

He said the ballroom building goes down six stories underground and is really “complex” because “everything is intertwined.”

“The roof goes with the ground floor, the ground floor goes with the roof. The roof also goes down into the basement,” the president said. “This is one well-knit building. One thing doesn’t work without the other.”

Trump says the ballroom is a ‘gift’ to the country

He repeated that the $400 million ballroom cost will be covered by donors, including him, and that the work is being done “in strict coordination” with the military and U.S. Secret Service.

“This is not going to be paid for by the taxpayer,” Trump said. “This is a gift to the United States of America.”

But it’s somewhat of an unwanted present as polling shows most Americans oppose the ballroom, which is embroiled in litigation in federal court. A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found that a majority, 56%, of U.S. adults oppose Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing to make way for the ballroom, while only 28% are in support.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to halt construction until Congress approves plans for the building.

Trump insisted he will have “very little” time to use the ballroom. He recently announced that it will be ready in September 2028, less than six months before his term ends.

“This is really for other presidents,” he said.

Trump sidestepped a question about whether he’ll kick in any more of his own money if Congress rejects the $1 billion funding request.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said Trump’s tour was not in response to the difficulties brewing in Congress. “President Trump is the most transparent president of all time and was excited to showcase to the press and American people the amazing gift he is giving to the White House and generations of future presidents to come,” Ingle said.

Trump also touched on some of the other beautification projects he’s undertaking across the city, such as restarting dormant park fountains. He claimed to be spending much less to clean up the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool than did his immediate predecessors — both Democrats.

“I’m doing a job on the Reflecting Lake for a fraction of what they paid,” Trump said. He’s having the surface coated in a shade of blue and wants to reopen it by July 4. A separate nonprofit group, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, has sued to halt this project.

May 5, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans are pushing $1 billion in White House security upgrades for President Donald Trump’s ballroom project. A Republican bill released late Monday (May 4, 2026) would give the U.S. Secret Service money for “security adjustments and upgrades” related to the ballroom. Trump and Republicans have been pushing the project since an incident last week at a media dinner where a man was charged with trying to assassinate the president. Republicans say the president needs the ballroom as a secure location to hold events. Democrats oppose funding the ballroom and The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to stop it.

April 16, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge who halted construction of President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom has clarified that the administration can proceed with below-ground construction of a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington issued his latest ruling Thursday (April 16, 2026) in a lawsuit over the ballroom project several days after an appeals court instructed him to reconsider the possible national security implications of stopping construction. Leon said he is ordering a stop only to above-ground construction of the planned ballroom, apart from any work needed to cover or secure that part of the project.

April 11, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has been instructed to reconsider the possible national security implications of halting construction of President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom. An appeals court panel says in a ruling that it didn’t have enough information to decide how much of the project can be suspended without jeopardizing the safety of the president, his family or the White House staff. The case was returned to the trial judge who last month barred work from proceeding without congressional approval, but suspended enforcement of that order for 14 days. The appeals court extended that for three days, to April 17, 2026, to allow the Trump administration to seek Supreme Court review.

April 2, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s new White House ballroom has gotten final approval from a key commission. This comes after a federal judge ordered a halt to construction unless Congress approves the project. The Trump-appointed chair of the National Capital Planning Commission said the agency moved ahead with Thursday’s (April 2, 2026) vote because the judge’s ruling affects construction, not planning. The ballroom is estimated to cost $400 million and has faced opposition and legal challenges. The Republican president aims to complete the ballroom project before his term ends in 2029. The ballroom will include security upgrades and is funded by donations and public dollars for security enhancements.

Feb. 26, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has rejected a preservationist group’s request to block the Trump administration from continuing construction of a $400 million ballroom where it demolished the East Wing of the White House. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled Thursday (Feb. 26, 2026) that the National Trust for Historic Preservation was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its bid to temporarily halt President Donald Trump’s project. The preservationists sought an order pausing the ballroom project until it undergoes multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress. Trump proceeded with the project before seeking input from a pair of federal review panels. Trump hailed the ruling, but the National Trust said the judge’s decision also determined it had standing to continue the case.

Feb. 19, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal panel made up of President Donald Trump’s appointees has approved (Feb. 19, 2026) his plan to build a massive ballroom on the site of the former White House East Wing. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts is one of two federal agencies that must approve Trump’s plans. The National Capital Planning Commission, which has jurisdiction over construction and major renovation to government buildings in the region, is also reviewing the project. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued in federal court to halt construction. A decision in the case is pending.

Jan. 9, 2026:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Thursday (Jan. 8, 2026) that it was not feasible to save the East Wing because of structural issues, past decay and other major concerns as officials shared details of President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom at a public meeting of the commission charged with approving it.

Josh Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, said an unstable colonnade, water leakage, mold contamination and other problems made it more economical to tear down the East Wing to make room for the $400 million ballroom than to renovate it.

“Because of this and other factors, the cost analysis proved that demolition and reconstruction provided the lowest total cost ownership and most effective long-term strategy,” Fisher told members of the National Capital Planning Commission.

It was the most comprehensive explanation to date for the dramatic demolition of the East Wing, which caused a public stir when it began in October with little advance notice.

The commission’s chairman, Will Scharf, who is also a top White House official, said he thought the project would ultimately be approved.

The project’s architect, Shalom Baranes, joined Fisher to provide a high-level view of the proposal to the commission. Baranes showed the panel renderings of the ballroom and views of the White House complex from the north and south with the addition.

Baranes said the design could include adding a second story to the West Wing colonnade to help make the White House more uniform with the new ballroom on the east side. But such a step would also dramatically alter the iconic space outside the Oval Office.

Fisher and Baranes said the project includes more than just a ballroom, and will also streamline visitor access to the White House and make unspecified improvements to Lafayette Park across the street.

Some of the 12 commissioners raised concerns, most vocally Democrat Phil Mendelson, who asked several questions about the ballroom’s size and location and whether those might change going forward. Baranes said “anything’s possible,” but added that the plans had been thoroughly studied.

Mendelson, who is also chairman of the D.C. Council, asked if the planned ceiling height of 38 to 40 feet (11.5 to 12 meters) could still be lowered before the final structure is finished and received assurances that the number wasn’t fully set. “It still seems to me it’s overwhelming the existing building,” Mendelson said.

Baranes said the idea would be to build the ballroom’s height to ensure it matches the rest of the White House. “The heights will match exactly,” he said.

Scharf listened to those and other questions Mendelson raised. Upon completion, however, the ballroom is expected to be larger than the rest of the existing White House.

Mendelson also asked why the project hadn’t been presented in its entirety to the commission before the East Wing was demolished. Fisher said some aspects of the ballroom construction were of a “top secret nature” and needed to be dealt with.

Scharf repeated his past assertions that the planning commission doesn’t usually have jurisdiction over site work and demolition on any project, including at the White House.

After the meeting, he expressed confidence that the project will receive the go-ahead.

“I certainly, based on the presentation today, I fully expect that the commission will … approve this project,” Scharf told reporters. “I think you just saw a very positive response to these preliminary drawings.” He acknowledged Mendelson’s concerns and suggested they would be addressed.

Only commissioners were allowed to ask questions and offer feedback at the meeting. A more formal review, including public testimony and votes, is expected after the White House submits a more detailed proposal. The panel’s next meeting is Feb. 5.

Before the meeting adjourned, Scharf argued that the White House needed a larger, more elegant space for major functions. He recalled visiting Windsor Castle last year with Trump and said, that when the president likely hosts King Charles III of Great Britain, “more likely than not, he will be hosted in a tent on the South Lawn with porta-potties.”

Scharf also said after the meeting that the commission is interested in more than whether the ballroom is a good idea. He said their concerns extend to how it affects the White House visitor experience and how the building fits in with others in the area and across the city.

Plans only recently offered

The White House in December submitted its ballroom plans to the commission, which is one of two federal panels that review construction on federal land — usually before ground is broken. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to halt construction of the ballroom, accusing the Trump administration of violating federal laws by proceeding before submitting the project for the independent reviews, congressional approval and public comment.

Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the Trust, said in a statement afterward that the White House presentation was a “good and necessary first step.” She urged the administration to comply with all legally required review and approval processes before starting construction.

A summary on the commission’s website said the purpose of the “East Wing Modernization Project” is to “establish a permanent, secure event space within the White House grounds” that provides increased capacity for official state functions, eliminates reliance on temporary tents and support facilities, and “protects the historic integrity and cultural landscape of the White House and its grounds.”

A comprehensive design plan for the White House prepared in 2000 identified the “need for expanded event space to address growing visitor demand and provide a venue suitable for significant events,” the summary said. It added that successive administrations had “recognized this need as an ongoing priority.”

Ballroom’s size and scope has grown

Trump, a Republican serving his second term, has been talking about building a White House ballroom for years. Last July, the White House announced a 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) space would be built on the east side of the complex to accommodate 650 seated guests at a then-estimated cost of $200 million. Trump has said it will be paid for with private donations, including from him.

He later upped the ballroom’s capacity to 999 people and, by October, had demolished the East Wing. In December, he updated the price tag to $400 million — double the original estimate.

The White House had announced few other details about the project but has said it would be completed before Trump’s term ends in January 2029.

Dec. 5, 2025:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is expected to submit plans for President Donald Trump’s new ballroom to a federal planning commission before the year ends, about three months after construction began.

Will Scharf, who was named by Trump as chairman of the National Capital Planning Commission, said at the panel’s monthly meeting Thursday (Dec. 4, 2025) that he was told by colleagues at the White House that the long-awaited plans will be filed sometime in December.

“Once plans are submitted, that’s really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin,” said Scharf, who also is one of the Republican president’s top White House aides.

He said the review process would happen at a “normal and deliberative pace.”

Separately, the White House confirmed Thursday that a second architectural firm has been added to the project.

Spokesperson Davis Ingle said architect Shalom Baranes of Washington, D.C., was needed as construction moves into a new phase. The firm has worked on federal properties across the nation’s capital, including the Pentagon and Treasury buildings, according to its website.

“As we begin to transition into the next stage of development on the White House Ballroom, the Administration is excited to share that the highly talented Shalom Baranes has joined the team of experts to carry out President Trump’s vision on building what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office — the White House Ballroom,” Ingle said in an emailed statement.

“Shalom is an accomplished architect whose work has shaped the architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades and his experience will be a great asset to the completion of this project,” Ingle said.

The initial firm, McCrery Architects, also of Washington, remains as a consultant.

If built as proposed, the 90,000-square-foot ballroom announced over the summer and expected to be ready before Trump’s term ends in 2029, would dwarf the White House itself, at nearly double the size, and the president has said it will accommodate 999 people.

The estimated price tag stands at $300 million, up from the White House’s initial $200 million.

Trump has said the ballroom will not cost taxpayers a dime because it is being privately funded by individuals he says are “patriots,” American corporations and himself. He has not said how much of his own money he is contributing.

The White House has released a list of 37 donors that includes crypto billionaires, charitable organizations, sports team owners, powerful financiers, tech and tobacco giants, media companies, supporters of Republican causes and some of the president’s neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump has long desired a ballroom at the White House and he complains regularly about the inability of its two largest rooms, the State Dining Room and the East Room, to host large events. He also has panned the use of large tents set up on the South Grounds for hundred-plus-person events, like a state dinner.

Last month, when Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited, Trump said he had upset a lot of people because he had to turn down their requests to attend an East Room dinner in the prince’s honor due to the lack of space.

“I only wish we had about 2,000 more seats. We would have filled every one of them two times over,” Trump said at the dinner, alluding to the proposed ballroom. “But very soon you’ll be having that, and we’ll have to do another one in about two years from now.”

In September, Trump moved ahead with site preparation work for the ballroom despite the lack of sign-off from the National Capital Planning Commission, the executive branch agency with jurisdiction over construction and major renovations to government buildings in the region.

Scharf has made a distinction between demolition work and above-ground construction, saying the commission only has jurisdiction over the latter. L. Preston Bryant Jr., a former chair of the commission under President Barack Obama, told The Associated Press that the approval process typically involved four stages, including an early consultation when the project was conceptual.

In October, Trump demolished the East Wing, where he has proposed to build the ballroom. Site preparation work has continued daily since then, with the sound of construction audible amid the hustle and bustle at the White House.

The East Wing was the traditional base of operations for the first lady and her staff. Several other White House offices also were housed in that wing. All currently are working out of space elsewhere in the White House or the office building next door.

The Washington Post was first to report on the addition of a new architect.