President Donald Trump on Tuesday debuted a rendering of his "much anticipated White House ballroom."
The Trump administration decided to destroy the White House's historic East Wing to make way for the ballroom, which was estimated to cost more than $300 million. The president has vowed to pay for the project, which has been met with criticism and stalled by several hurdles, with private donations.
Trump shared the announcement on his Truth Social platform.
"This beautiful building will be, when complete, the much anticipated White House Ballroom — The Greatest of its kind ever built! It is a rendering from the Treasury Building, directly across the street, and replaces the very small, dilapidated, and rebuilt many times, East Wing, with a magnificent New East Wing, consisting of a glorious Ballroom that has been asked for by Presidents for over 150 years. Being an identical height and scale, it is totally in keeping with our historic White House. This is the first rendering shown to the Public. If you notice, the North Wall is a replica of the North Facade of the White House, shown at the right hand side of the picture. This space will serve our Country well for, hopefully, Centuries into the future!"
The Trump administration has argued that there could be "national security implications" if the new White House ballroom was not built immediately.
In a motion opposing an injunction to halt the building of a massive White House addition, attorneys for the National Park Service warned there could be "an emergency situation" if the project were paused.
"Defendants have strong arguments for appeal, and the equities and public interest weigh overwhelmingly against suspending construction in the interim," the motion stated.
In December, Trump replaced McCrery Architects with Shalom Baranes Associates.
