Trump reportedly has secret plan to renovate another part of the White House - the underground bunker

Donald Trump’s drastic demolition and revamping of the White House’s East Wing is reportedly hiding a far more secretive construction project, about which few details are known.

Building work has been underway since October after the president unveiled plans for his lavish ballroom – now estimated to be costing up to $400 million – but court documents have hinted that another classified project is being carried out simultaneously.

White House director of management and administration Joshua Fisher said previously that the overall East Wing project would “[enhance] mission critical functionality” and “make necessary security enhancements.”

Observers have speculated that the “top secret work” is a refurbishment of the underground presidential bunker, first commissioned in 1941 to protect the president in the event of an attack on the U.S.

“There are some things regarding this project that are, frankly, of top-secret nature that we are currently working on,” Fisher said, during a recent meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission.

“That does not preclude us from changing the above-grade structure, but that work needed to be considered when doing this project, which was not part of the NCPC process.”

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Fisher cited the project as part of the reason why demolition for the ballroom had begun before specific permission had been given by the commission.

According to recent court filings obtained by CNN, the White House defended the East Wing demolition by saying stopping the process would “endanger national security and therefore impair the public interest.”

A source close to the project told the outlet “with a high degree of confidence… that all of the subterranean structures… [seem] to be gone,” to make way for refurbishment.

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The Independent has contacted the White House for comment about reported plans to revamp a bunker under the White House.

The presence of a subterranean facility initially built to serve as a place for the Commander-in-Chief to shelter from a nuclear blast, has evolved in the years since it was first constructed in 1941.

“All the infrastructure is 1940s infrastructure,” CNN’s source added.

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As well as living quarters, including beds, food and water and other supplies, the bunker has external communication facilities, other sources who have seen the bunker told the outlet. The space also includes the Presidential Emergency Operations Center – a centralized command and control facility for administration officials to contact the outside world in case of a nuclear attack.

Over the years the bunker has been used for all manner of national security events including an evacuation of Dick Cheney on 9/11 as well as the planning of Joe Biden’s secret trip to Ukraine in 2023.

Sources said that several contingencies remain should the president need to be evacuated while work on the bunker is still being carried out.

Trump has said multiple times that the cost of his presidential ballroom will be footed by private donors. The exact costs of the refortified bunker, likely falling onto the taxpayer, may never be known.