Trump says ballroom is needed after correspondents’ dinner shooting – National

In the aftermath of a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, U.S. President Donald Trump has renewed his push for a secure White House ballroom, stating that “nothing should be allowed to interfere” with the ballroom’s construction.

The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was upended Saturday night when a gunman charged the premises, trying to enter the hotel ballroom where Trump and cabinet secretaries were assembled. The gunman was tackled and taken into custody, police said.

In a post on Truth Social Sunday, Trump said the shooting “would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House.”

“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 wrote.

“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.”

Trump said “nothing should be allowed to interfere” with the ballroom’s construction, “which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule.”

Trump also spoke about the issue during an interview with The Sunday Briefing on Fox News Sunday morning.

“As you know, we’re building a big, beautiful, very, very secure ballroom in every way with massive bulletproof glass that’s almost four inches thick. It’s pretty amazing stuff. All the elements that you need,” Trump said.

During his interview, Trump said the 90,000-square-foot ballroom he is building is “really what you need.”

He said the ballroom was “designed in conjunction with the military and in conjunction with the Secret Service. It’s got every single bell and whistle you can possibly have for security and safety.”

“I’m getting it built and the one good thing is that now everybody knows how badly needed it is,” Trump added.

Trump’s Justice Department is also using the shooting at the dinner on Saturday to try to pressure preservationists to drop their lawsuit over his US$400-million ballroom on the site of the former East Wing of the White House.

“It’s time to build the ballroom,” acting attorney general Todd Blanche said Sunday on X, sharing a letter that Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate gave to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has sued the administration to try to block construction of the ballroom.

“Last night, there was another attempt on President Trump’s life. This time, the shooter targeted President Trump at the Washington Hilton, the only ballroom in Washington, D.C. suitable to host large gatherings for the President, where another shooter targeted President Reagan 45 years ago,” the letter began. “As history proves, that venue is demonstrably unsafe for the President of the United States because its size presents extraordinary security challenges for the Secret Service.

“Yesterday’s assassination attempt on President Trump proves, yet again, that the White House ballroom is essential for the safety and security of the President, his family, his cabinet, and his staff.”

The letter adds that when the White House Ballroom is complete, Trump and “his successors will no longer need to venture beyond the safety of the White House perimeter to attend large gatherings at the Washington Hilton ballroom.”

Shumate claims that the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit “puts the lives of the President, his family, and his staff at grave risk.”

“Enough is enough. Your client should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit today in the light of last night’s assassination attempt on President Trump,” Shumate adds.

The letter gave the National Trust for Historic Preservation until 9 a.m. Monday to dismiss its lawsuit. If the lawsuit is not dismissed, “the government will move to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the case in light of last night’s extraordinary events,” according to the letter.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has not responded to the U.S. Department of Justice’s letter as of this writing.

Asked about the letter, Elliot Carter, spokesperson for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, told The Associated Press Sunday that the group would review it with legal counsel.

Global News has reached out to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for further comment.

The preservation group sued in December 2025, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people. Trump says the project is funded by private donations, although public money is paying for the bunker construction and security upgrades.

The letter from the U.S. Department of Justice comes two weeks after a court halting construction of the ballroom allowed the administration to proceed with below-ground work on a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site.

A federal judge said he would amend his order “to stop only above-ground construction of the planned ballroom” in response to an appeals court’s instruction to clarify an earlier decision.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s latest ruling still blocks the Trump administration’s plan to start on above-ground construction of an 8,400-square-metre ballroom.

Leon’s ruling comes after the White House asked the federal appeals court to allow construction on Trump’s ballroom to continue, claiming that it creates a “security risk” for Trump and his family.

“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” Leon wrote in his latest ruling.

“That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order! My Order preliminarily enjoined Defendants (excluding the President) from ‘taking any action in furtherance of the physical development of the proposed ballroom.’

“It is, to say the least, incredible, if not disingenuous, that Defendants now argue that my Order does not stop ballroom construction because of the safety-and-security exception.”

Leon noted that his amended order does not “stop below-ground construction of national security facilities, work necessary to provide for presidential security, and construction necessary to protect and secure the White House and the construction site itself.”

The judge clarified that the defendants may “cover and secure the below-ground construction while litigation proceeds.”

“As noted by our Circuit Court, the ballroom’s planned security features are still months, if not years, away from being realized-belying Defendants’ argument that an inability to implement those features now imposes irreparable harm,” Leon’s ruling added.

Leon amended his preliminary injunction and ordered that below-ground construction may proceed, “including the construction of any ‘top-secret excavations, bunkers, bomb-shelters, protective partitioning, military installations, and hospital and medical facilities,’ as well as such above-ground construction strictly.”

“However, the injunction does not permit above-ground construction of the proposed ballroom,” the legal documents noted.

Leon said national security “is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity.”

In response to Leon’s ruling, Trump referred to him as “a Trump Hating, Washington, D.C. District Court Judge, a man who has gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn’t get built.”

Trump said Leon’s ruling “means that no future President, living in the White House without this Ballroom, can ever be Safe and Secure at Events, Future Inaugurations, or Global Summits.”

“This Magnificent Space will allow them to carry out their vital duties as the Leader of our Nation. Furthermore, the Ballroom, which is being constructed on budget and ahead of schedule, is needed now,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

National Trust president and CEO Carol Quillen released a statement following Leon’s preliminary injunction halting ballroom construction.

“We appreciate the US Circuit Court of Appeals acting quickly and await further clarification from the US District Court. The National Trust remains committed to honoring the historic significance of the White House, advocating for our collective role as stewards, and demonstrating how broad consultation, including with the American people, results in a better overall outcome,” Quillen said.

In his previous order, Leon barred above-ground work on the ballroom from proceeding without congressional approval. The judge also ruled on March 31 that any construction work that’s necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House is exempt from the scope of the injunction.

This came after a motion filed on April 3 by National Park Service lawyers, who said the federal judge’s order to suspend construction of the new facility is “threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the President and his family, and the President’s staff.”

The ballroom is “a vital project for the safety and security of the White House and the President, his family, and his staff,” the administration said. “Halting construction would imperil the President and others who live and work in the White House.”

Trump’s ballroom construction plans have experienced numerous setbacks and delays.

In March, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) opened a forum where the public could comment on the project. The commission would then vote on whether to move forward with the White House renovation.

The commission received more than 32,000 written comments — mostly negative — about the 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition.

The NCPC, which oversees federal building construction, said a “vast majority” of the comments received “are in opposition to the project” and noted that a high percentage of those raising objections focused on components of the project outside of the NCPC’s purview.

With an 8-1 vote, Trump’s ballroom won final approval from the 12-member NCPC, allowing the plan to move forward.

— with files from The Associated Press