U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he attends the opening night of 'Chicago' at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, renamed by the Trump administration to The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 31, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump just sent the GOP a vulgar message after he remained determined to build his signature ballroom despite a court ordering him to seek Congressional approval, according to one former lawmaker.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., temporarily halted construction of Trump's ballroom and ordered the Trump administration to obtain Congress's approval before the project could resume. Trump was asked about the order during a press conference in the Oval Office, where he said his administration would appeal the order and declared that the judge in the case got it "so wrong."
"He is WRONG!" Trump wrote on Truth Social later on Tuesday night. "Congressional approval has never been given on anything, in these circumstances, big or small, having to do with construction at the White House. In this case, even less so, because the Ballroom is being built with Private Donations, no Federal Taxpayer Money!"
Max Rose, a former Democratic lawmaker from New York, discussed Trump's comments during a segment on "Erin Burnett OutFront" on Tuesday.
"If Republican leadershiphad actually asserted theirright and authority andobligation over the purse ... this would not even behappening in the first place," Rose said. "And Donald Trump still pursuing it is a gigantic middle finger to his own Republican leadership in the House and the Senate, basically saying, 'You are all fully owned subsidiaries of me and MAGA Inc., and I know you're not going to say anything.'"