Trump Promotes ‘Large, Safe, and Secure’ Ballroom After Shooting

(Photo by Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via AP)

President Donald Trump renewed his call for the hasty construction of his proposed White House Ballroom on Sunday morning, just hours after a shooting interrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel the previous evening.

“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,” wrote Trump in a post on Truth Social. “This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House. The ridiculous Ballroom lawsuit, brought by a woman walking her dog, who has absolutely No Standing to bring such a suit, must be dropped, immediately. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

The Trump administration demolished the East Wing of the White House in October to make room for the ballroom, a pet project of the president’s that has become an unlikely culture war battle.

District Judge Richard Leon ordered the administration to pause work on the ballroom last month, demanding it seek and receive “express authorization from Congress” before proceeding, as “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have.”

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