Ryan Bort
Contact Ryan Bort on X View all posts by Ryan Bort March 31, 2026
US President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the East Wing modernization aboard Air Force One, on March 29, 2026. Mandel NGAN/AFP/Getty Images A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump from building a new grand ballroom on the former site of the White House’s East Wing, which the president had torn down last year.
Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of Ronald Reagan, ruled that construction “has to stop!” until Congress “blesses this project through statutory authorization.”
“The President may at any time go to Congress to obtain express authority to construct a ballroom and to do so with private funds,” Leon wrote. “Indeed, Congress may even choose to appropriate funds for the ballroom, or at least decide that some other funding scheme is acceptable.” He emphasized that Congress “will thereby retain its authority over the nation’s property and its oversight of government spending.”
Since he retook office last year, Trump has spoken breathlessly about his plans to construct a new White House ballroom. He hasn’t let current events disturb his focus on the project, and has continued to tout it since launching a war against Iran last month.
Trump even brought out poster boards with depictions of the ballroom on Air Force One while speaking with reporters on Sunday. “They’ll be Corinthian, which is considered the best, the most beautiful by far,” he said of the ballroom’s columns, while holding up a visual aid.
The president also claimed on Sunday that the military is constructing a “massive complex” under the ballroom. “I’m so busy that I don’t have time to do this,” he said. “I’m fighting wars and other things,” Trump told reporters. “But this is very important, because this is going to be with us for a long time, and it’s going to be, I think it will be the greatest ballroom anywhere in the world.”
The ballroom is expected to cost $400 million. Trump and his administration claim it will be paid for with private donations, not taxpayer money, which raises a host of ethical concerns.
