President Donald Trump plans to name his $300 million ballroom after himself after demolishing the entire East Wing of the White House.
Officials are referring to the grandiose building as ‘The President Donald J. Trump Ballroom,’ according to ABC News. Trump plans to keep the name when the building is finished.
Trump has not stated publicly what he intends to name the ballroom. The president made his career in New York real estate by slapping his name on the side of skyscrapers.
The White House has stated that the ballroom will be completed before Trump leaves office in January 2029 but have not offered a specific timeline. Experts have said that Trump’s goal is ambitious.
‘I won’t get into that now,’ Trump said with a smile when asked by ABC News Chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce on if he has a name for the ballroom.
The White House claims they have raised $350 million for the ballroom project with estimates suggesting it will cost more than the initial $300 million budget.
A White House official said Trump ‘has received such positive and overwhelming support for the ballroom that he continues to receive donations.’
Trump has repeatedly claimed he plans to donate millions of dollars of his own to the ballroom’s construction. The project’s private donors includes executives from world’s top technology corporations, including Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft.
Trump plans to rename the White House ballroom after himself
The White House ballroom will cost more than $300 million in private donations
As part of the ballroom’s construction, the entire East Wing of the White House was demolished
As part of the ballroom’s construction, the entire East Wing of the White House was destroyed.
Trump had originally claimed that the 83-year-old building wouldn’t be touched in the construction of the $250 million privately funded ballroom.
But when a backhoe was pictured on Monday smashing through the walls of the historic building, it set off alarm bells.
First Lady Melania Trump, meanwhile, has been silent about the demolition despite the fact the East Wing holds the offices of her entire staff.
White House tours are now halted for the general public during the ballroom’s construction.
The president held up pictures of the ornate ballroom during the meeting and a model of how the White House complex will look once the new wing was completed sat out on the table.
‘In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure,’ the president explained inside the Oval Office on Wednesday as he hit out at the photos that were released of the demolition.
The White House was initially cagey about what the plans for the East Wing were, with suggestions that part of the structure would remain intact.
Trump, announcing the ballroom earlier this year, claimed: ‘It won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.’
Traditionally, past presidents do not name monuments or structures inside or outside the White House after themselves especially while they are in office.
