Trump scrambles to explain ballooning price tag for ballroom: 'A necessary change'

With the estimated cost of the White House ballroom project doubling from $200 million to $400 million – alongside a separate $1 billion funding request from GOP lawmakers tied to the effort – President Donald Trump took to social media Wednesday to defend the escalating price tag, as well as to lash out at the press over its coverage of the project.

“The only reason the cost has changed is because, after deep rooted studies, it is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal, which would not have been adequate to handle the necessary events, meetings, and even future Inaugurations,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

“The original price was 200 Million Dollars, the double sized, highest quality completed project will be something less than 400 Million Dollars. It will be magnificent, safe, and secure! This was a necessary change, it was done long ago, but the Fake News failed to report it, trying to make it look like there was a cost overrun.”

Construction on Trump’s White House ballroom project, a proposed 90,000 square-foot addition to the White House that required the demolition of the East Wing, was reportedly behind schedule. It was also reportedly designed in a “hurried process,” with at least one design document showing the project as having a staircase leading to nowhere.

Its estimated cost increased from $200 million to $300 million, and again to $400 million. Nevertheless, Trump insisted that such reporting was false, without evidence.

“Actually, it is coming in ahead of schedule, and under budget!” he wrote.