WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is redirecting $352 million in federal funds towards President Donald Trump’s controversial White House ballroom project, despite Trump repeatedly saying it would be paid for with private donations.
Over the past week, the administration has quietly deposited nearly $400 million of federal funds into accounts meant for security measures at the White House. The funds were part of the $1.2 billion allocation for the Secret Service that Congress passed last year in Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
About $340 million was placed into an account labeled “Procurement, Construction, and Improvements” on June 12, according to the Office of Management and Budget. A second account with the label “Operations and Support” saw $10 million added on the same day.
The White House claims the ballroom is tied to Trump’s security, needing the funds to ensure safety.
“The East Wing Modernization Project is inextricably tied to the security of the president, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said. “President Trump and generous American patriots are funding the ballroom to the tune of approximately $400m, which will be a secure and appropriate venue for presidents for generations to come.”
Bloomberg Government and NOTUS were the first to report of the funds being redirected.
Last year when the bill was passed, Congress said the $1.2 billion could only be used for “additional Secret Service resources,” including “personnel, training facilities, programming, and technology.
This week, the Washington Post reported that the contractor building the White House ballroom estimated in March that the total cost would be over $600 million, not the $400 million that administration officials had previously said, and that more than half of the funding was expected to come from government entities funded by taxpayers, not private donors as Trump claimed.
