Donald Trump begs for taxpayer dollars for ballroom after promising ‘none would be used’

It appears as though Donald Trump has broken yet another promise. The president-elect, who promised ‘no new wars' and ‘cheap gas prices, is adding another fib to his growing list of nose-growing comments. After demolishing the White House's East Wing in October 2025, the White House has sat half-demolished, and progress on Trump's $400 million ballroom has been stalled for months. Now, Trump is clamouring for the ballroom to be rushed through, and he wants to use taxpayer dollars to do it, even after he claimed the entirety of the project would be privately funded by him and donors. The proposed ballroom, which was approved by Congress on April 2, will be 90,000 sqft, nearly double the size of the old ballroom. The new space will be able to host up to 1,000 guests.

The reason? Security. On April 26, 2026, during the White House correspondents' dinner, a man allegedly tried to kill the president, forcing his way into the lobby of the Washington Hilton before being subdued by security. While the armed man did not get anywhere near the president or any other persons of interest, the event has caused Donald Trump to claim that the Washington Hilton is not secure enough.

Correspondence dinner and the Hilton

According to Trump, if the dinner had been held in his planned ballroom, security would have been so tight that the incident would never have happened. The problem is that he failed to give any reasoning as to why. The White House Correspondents' Dinner has been held at the Washington Hilton for more than 50 years and is traditionally the home for the event. The Washington Hilton is nicknamed ‘The Beast', and it's not for its size; it's for its safety. The Washington Hilton, built in 1965, has a plethora of impressive safety nets included in its design, all meant to protect the President of the United States.  The hotel has a secure, underground entrance and garage for the president to use, and has multiple layers of security separating the main lobby (where the suspect was stopped) and the private event space. The last time a president was attacked at the Washington Hilton was the attack on Ronald Reagan in 1981, which prompted the hotel to construct its underground entrance.

Trump needs security

According to Trump, he needs his ballroom sooner rather than later, and the incident at the Washington Hilton proved it. Trump claims his ballroom will be extremely secure, even though official plans were only approved on April 2. Donald Trump has claimed that there will be a massive underground bunker beneath the ballroom, which he claims is a “shed for what's being built”. While the official plans and details of the project have been kept under tight wraps (if they even exist), Trump seems confident that the ballroom will ease his fears.

With Trump apparently fearing for his life, he wants to push forward the ballroom project, and he wants to use taxpayer dollars to do it.

Breaking promises

On April 27, Republicans introduced a bill to the U.S. Congress to fund Trump's massive ballroom. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and two fellow Republicans introduced the bill that will mainly finance the construction through taxpayer dollars. Yes, the ballroom won't just be partially funded by taxpayer dollars; it will be funded almost entirely with public funds. According to Lindsay Graham, the government is seeking $332 million in taxpayer dollars to fund the project, with Trump garnering just $68 million in private donations.

For a ballroom that was supposed to receive $400 million in private donations and cost Americans nothing, this is a drastic change, going criminally underreported amongst the slew of other stories defining America. With Trump wrapped up in stories about his War on Iran and his relationship with Jefferey Epstein, it seems as though some stories fall through the cracks of mainstream news media, and this is one of them. Donald Trump promised America in October that the ballroom would be entirely funded by private donations and his own organization. Now, he's changed his tune. It's clear that Trump has failed to garner the donations required, with Graham confirming just $68 million in donations, and it's clear that Trump doesn't want to use his own reserves to fund the personal project; he wants to use America's.

Where will the funding come from?

Sen. Lindsay Graham's bill stated how it would acquire the $332 million it has requested. According to Graham, the project will be funded through “customs fees” on ​imported goods. The US reported more than $100 billion in tariffs and customs fees in 2025. The US was supposed to use that profit to reinvest in the industries negatively affected by tariffs and trade disputes. Instead, nearly half of that profit will reportedly be used to erect Donald Trump's monument to ego. The real kicker, construction isn't supposed to be finished until 2029, just in time for Trump to permanently leave office.