WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday bragged that his new ballroom will include “impenetrable steel” walls and a “drone port” on the roof — as a firestorm brews in Congress over whether taxpayers should fund its security features.
Trump stood in front of the noisy ballroom construction site during a DC heatwave, speaking with reporters for nearly an hour as the temperature crossed 90 degrees, proclaiming it would be the “safest building ever built.”
“You have to understand, when this is finished, my term ends shortly after that. This is really for other presidents,” Trump said before serving breakfast to the press.
President Trump brought the press to the noisy construction site this morning. AP Photo/Jacquelyn MartinTrump said that “hundreds of millions of dollars already” have been spent on the project, which he projected to cost $400 million in “my money and donors’ money.”
President Trump said the new facility will have a drone port. Getty ImagesThe Senate parliamentarian recently nixed $1 billion for security improvements from pending Department of Homeland Security funding legislation, drawing Republican strategizing on how to get around the roadblock. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has told colleages he will oppose the ballroom language in the bill.
“This is not for me. This is my gift to the United States of America. I’m going to be able to use it very little when it’s finished,” Trump said, implicitly ruling out a gambit for a third term that he periodically teases.
“We’re talking about six or seven months, but it will be used for hopefully hundreds of years for other presidents.”
The security features, which the taxpayer money would finance, include “impenetrable glass” windows that can withstand “an unlimited number of drones,” Trump said.
“We have tremendous amounts of military able to be in the top” he said. “We doubled the size [of the ballroom] at the request of the military.”
President Trump shows a sketch of what the proposed White House ballroom will look like as he speaks to the press on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. AFP via Getty Images“The roof is a barrier. It’s a shield.”
The “drone port” on the roof will be “set up for unlimited numbers of drones.”
“The side walls are steel, impenetrable steel, and also impenetrable glass. The glass is approximately 4 inches thick, and yet it’s amazing. You can see through it as though it didn’t exist, and it can stop just about anything,” Trump said.
Trump said the building will have a flat roof with no air conditioning units or any other feature.
President Trump walks near the construction site of his proposed ballroom. AFP via Getty Images“We don’t want anything coming down through the pipes,” he explained.
“We don’t want to have anything having to do with air or air quality or any problems playing with the air… All of the equipment is inside of the building, and that’s for safety reasons.”
Trump reiterated other planned features, including medical facilities below the ground level of the complex, and revealed that its exterior look was inspired by the Supreme Court and classical architectural elements borrowed from “glamorous times” in Greece and Rome.
Workers watch President Trump speak about the construction of the White House ballroom on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. AFP via Getty Images“I always admired the facade of the Supreme Court. I said, ‘I wonder if that can be duplicated or bettered’… And we’ve actually bettered it,” he told the press.
The construction project is caught up not only in legislative wrangling, but in court, with a district judge ruling in late March that work should stop — a ruling Trump is appealing as progress continues.
A view of the sidewalk of the White House ballroom with the number 45-47 -— President Trump’s terms in office. AFP via Getty Images
The White House staff prepares the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, May 19, 2026. AP Photo/Alex Brandon“We have a judge that thinks it’s a terrible thing that we’re making a gift,” Trump griped.
“Maybe he doesn’t understand. This is a gift to the United States of America, and more than a gift, it’s going to be one of the most beautiful buildings that’s ever been built in the country, or in Washington, D.C.”






