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By Alice Gibbs
Senior Reporter
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New aerial pictures of President Donald Trump’s ballroom have revealed how the building appears to dwarf the existing White House building.
The ballroom project has been the subject of much scrutiny and discussion, not least because Trump has mentioned it regularly. After Election Day and the GOP's crushing defeat, he watched the final construction beam being put into place for his first public appearance. Democrats have vowed to put the brakes on what they deem to be the president's "vanity projects."
Built on the former East Wing site, the ballroom is designed to hold nearly 1,000 guests and comprises of offices and underground security spaces. New images shared in the past week reveal the scale of the build as construction workers continue to work on the site.
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“Trump’s under-construction ballroom is now bigger than the rest of the White House. Much bigger,” Democratic Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina said on X. “The contrast says everything you need to know about the President and his priorities.”
Trump’s new ballroom is designed to sit at 90,000 square feet, giving it a much larger footprint than the original White House which spreads over around 55,000 square feet.
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White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Newsweek: "Dumocrats are opposed to anything that celebrates the greatness of our Country because they are America Last losers. President Trump continues to implement long-overdue and necessary renovations to beautify the People’s House as we approach our great Nation’s 250th anniversary of independence.
"Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come. Only people who suffer from a severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome would find a problem with that," he added.
Ballroom To Military Complex
Trump first announced his plan to build a new White House ballroom in May 2025 during an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press.
In July 2025 the project was formally unveiled at the White House by then press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and just three months later the old White House East Wing, which held the first lady’s personal offices and dated to 1902, was demolished.
The ballroom plan has faced significant opposition from conservation groups such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and even legal challenges aimed at preventing it from going ahead.
Amid opposition, the president hit back and stated that the project was an issue of national security. In a statement posted to Truth Social over the summer of 2026, Trump said that his planned ballroom would be more than just a ballroom, explaining that it would also be part of a new military complex.
“The single, integrated project includes bomb shelters, state-of-the-art hospital and medical facilities, protective partitioning, top secret military facilities, structures and equipment, protective missile-resistant steel, columns, roofs, and beams, drone-proof ceilings and roofs, military-grade venting, and bullet-, ballistic-, and blast-proof glass. It is all tied together as one big, expensive, and very complex unit, which is vital for national security and military operations of the United States of America," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The latest aerial images captured renewed attention thanks to the scale of the new ballroom compared with the original White House building.
Political scientist and contributing editor at The Atlantic Norman Ornstein, who wrote on X: “I want every putative 2028 candidate to pledge that on January 20, 2029 he or she will sign an executive order to tear down this monstrosity.”
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Can the Democrats Halt Trump’s Ballroom?
Democratic control of Congress would not immediately halt construction on Trump’s ballroom, but could subject the project—and its financing and funding—to a level of scrutiny the White House has so far been able to avoid.
When the new Congress convenes in January, Democrats will have powerful congressional oversight ability to hold hearings, demand documents and even subpoena witnesses and records relating to the project.
This could put the financing of the ballroom squarely in lawmakers’ sights. Democrats have already sought information from major companies that contributed to the project, including Amazon, Apple, Comcast, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia.
In October, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote to 14 previously undisclosed donors to the ballroom project, asking for more information about how their donations were secured.
Questions included whether anyone in the administration proposed a specific amount for a donation, and why some of the donors chose to remain anonymous.
As the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Blumenthal said that they were “laying the groundwork” for a broader investigation and possible use of subpoena powers if his party took control of the Senate.
Could Congress Legislate Against the Ballroom?
Oversight is not the only option for the incoming Congress when it comes to scrutiny of the ballroom project.
Democrats have also previously proposed legislation aimed directly at the private financing of projects such as Trump’s ballroom.
In November 2025, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren introduced the Stop Ballroom Bribery Act, designed to regulate private donations used to pay for projects at the White House and certain other presidential properties.
The bill defines a “covered project” as the construction, demolition, alteration, improvement or maintenance of buildings and fixtures on or immediately adjacent to the White House grounds. It would also cover the vice president’s residence and certain monuments honoring living presidents or vice presidents.
The Senate bill was referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on November 18, 2025. Congress.gov lists that as its latest action and its status remains “Introduced.”
But even with Democratic control of Congress, the bill may not pass. The measure would still have to clear both chambers and could be vetoed by Trump, requiring two-thirds of each chamber to override him.
Could the Courts Stop the Ballroom?
While Democratic control of Congress could bring new scrutiny, an existing legal challenge has also sought to halt construction.
In March, a federal judge ordered above-ground work on the ballroom to stop, concluding the project likely required congressional authorization. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that injunction in August.
But the Supreme Court went on to allow construction to continue while litigation proceeds. In its August 31 decision, the Court’s majority said the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which brought the lawsuit, was unlikely to have legal standing to challenge the project.
The Supreme Court’s ruling did not resolve or dismiss the underlying lawsuit, but there is currently no operative injunction preventing construction.
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