President presses case for controversial $400m project following White House correspondents’ dinner shooting
The shooting at the Washington Hilton hotel gives new urgency to the project to construct a 1,000-seat ballroom at the White House, Donald Trump claimed after the incident on Saturday night.
The US president pressed the case for his controversial ballroom initiative at the press conference he held at the White House on Saturday and a social media post on Sunday, after an armed attacker was arrested as he rushed towards the Hilton’s ballroom, where Trump was attending the White House Correspondents Association’s annual dinner.
The $400m construction project to build a giant event space began at the White House with the east wing being knocked down last October without Trump waiting for full legal permission to proceed. Legal challenges followed along with controversy over funding for the enormous ballroom, which is planned to be larger than the core White House itself.
“What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday morning.
