Trump’s push to have donors fund his $400 million White House ballroom might cost him the whole project

President Donald Trump’s plan to have private donors fund his new $400 million White House ballroom may cost him the entire project, as a federal judge will soon decide whether the administration is allowed to rely on fundraising to bypass congressional approval.

U.S. District Judge Ricard Leon says he may rule this month on a lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in December to halt the ballroom’s construction, according to the Washington Post.

Trump has argued that using private donations to pay for the project keeps the burden off taxpayers, but critics say the plan highlights a lack of transparency about how the expansion is being funded.

Democrats and watchdog groups have raised questions about the arrangement, which relies on donations from big corporations and businesses. The donations are then routed through a nonprofit intermediary, which also profits, having received millions of dollars in fees, according to the Post.

The Trump administration has already found a lengthy list of donors, including Big Tech giants Amazon, Apple, Google, HP and Microsoft — as well as other well-known companies like Coinbase, Lockheed Martin, Palantir Technologies and T-Mobile.

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Most of the donors have declined to say how much they’ve given. However, the watchdog group CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) says at least 22 companies involved in the project failed to disclose their donations in lobbying filings.

During a hearing for the lawsuit brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation held in January, Leon shared his reservations about proceeding without congressional approval. He also questioned whether Trump possessed the statutory power to dismantle the East Wing and build a ballroom in its place without explicit oversight or authorization from Congress.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is urging the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit managing the project’s donations, to clarify its role and share information about the donations it has received.

The organization declined to provide details to the Post about the gifts, but said it collects between 2 and 2.5 percent of each donation as part of a management fee. A spokesperson said the fee is standard practice.

The White House has declined to specify how much money has been raised for the project, which has doubled in cost from its initial estimate of $200 million last summer.

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“President Trump is generously donating his time and resources to build a beautiful White House ballroom, a project which past presidents only dreamed about,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said. “Since announcing this historic plan, the White House has been inundated with calls from generous Americans and American companies wishing to contribute.”

In October, Trump hosted an opulent gala dinner for some of his sponsors in the East Room of the White House — which coincided with the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, lasting 43 days.

Soon after plans to replace the East Wing with a new ballroom were announced, demolition began without any extensive public review process. The ballroom is projected to be approximately 90,000 square feet, and the attached “New East Wing” complex will include a new office for the First Lady, a movie theater and commercial kitchen.

“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Joe Biden, and not anyone else,” the lawsuit filed in December says.

However, in December Leon declined to immediately pause construction of the project, and Trump’s Department of Justice is moving to ensure that doesn’t change.

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A DOJ filing asked a federal judge overseeing the lawsuit to stay any injunction on the construction over alleged “national security” concerns, ABC News reported.

"[A]s the Secret Service attested, halting construction would imperil the President and others who live and work in the White House," the administration argues in the filing.

The Trump administration said it will also be submitting a second classified statement from the Secret Service to further support its argument that stopping construction at the site will "endanger national security and therefore impair the public interest."

The filing claims that leaving the project incomplete would be a risk to national security. The DOJ filing comes after Judge Leon first made it clear he was skeptical of Trump’s claim that he could use private donations to fund the ballroom’s construction.