What’s Under Trump’s Ballroom?
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ABC Listen. Podcasts, radio, news, music and more. Hi, it's Sam Hawley from ABC News Daily, the podcast that brings you one big story affecting your world each weekday in just 15 minutes.
Andy Burnham pitched himself as an outsider, not in that sort of populist way of saying I'm against the elites, but I'm from another part of the UK which perfectly well understands the cost of living crisis. Give me a chance to do this nationally.
Join me for ABC News Daily. Find us on ABC Listen.
This podcast was produced on the lands of the Wabakal and Gadigal people. When you imagine the White House, what do you picture? It's the big columns, right? The bit underneath the spaceship on the front cover of a DVD of Independence Day.
Today is the 4th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom.
You know, the bit they show at the end of the title sequence of The West Wing. Well, there is a bit of an irony to that because that's not the West Wing at all. If you look at the White House from above, it's clearly three buildings connected by narrow colonnades. In the center, the residence, the bit built in the early 19th century with the columns and the porticos and the big windows. On each side, the wings, both built in the 20th century because the residence was too small to fit all the president's staff. Across the entire complex, there are 132 rooms, but the thing is, none of them are very big. Right now, the largest room in the White House is the East Room, which confusingly is not in the East Wing.
It's in the residence. But when you see the president walking down that long corridor to make a big announcement like this.
The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden. the leader of Al-Qaeda.
He's making those big announcements in the East Room. If you listen carefully, you can hear the echo. It's a pretty big room.
And a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
It's used for everything from press conferences to musical performances. And while it is a big room, it's not that big. You can only seat about 200 people. Bigger events require a bigger space. And so during the Obama administration, they created that space by knocking up a big tent on the South Lawn. Sitting at home in his private club in Florida, a certain property tycoon was horrified that fancy events such as state dinners were being held outdoors in a tent. He decided to try and do something about it.
Recently, I saw that they were in a tent in the White House. I offered for nothing to build a $50 million ballroom because I said, you know what? When a foreign leader comes over, they shouldn't be in a tent. They should be in a ballroom.
The person he talked to was senior Obama advisor David Axelrod.
And he said, you know, I build ballrooms. I build the greatest ballrooms. You can come down to Florida and see them.
What is Donald Trump proposing to build at the White House and why does it matter?
Needless to say, the idea of allowing a reality TV host to build a new White House ballroom was a little bit too complicated for Axelrod to deal with at that particular point in time. So he left Trump on read. They never got back to me. It's a $100 million gift.
They never got back to me. They should say, Trump's going to give us $100 million. He's going to build the ballroom. It's going to be magnificent.
And why wouldn't they get back to me? That's the problem with this country. Well, 15 years after Donald Trump made that call, he's addressing the problem with the country and finally building the ballroom. You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back.
You hear that sound? Oh, that's music to my ears. I love that sound. I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money.
Over the last few months, the east wing of the White House has been ripped down and an enormous area has been excavated to build not just a ballroom, but a security complex underneath.
Donald Trump is eager to stress that no taxpayers' money is being spent on this project. He often says he's paying for it himself. In fact, a collection of wealthy donors have put up the funds, but we don't know who, we don't know how much, and we don't know what they might get in return.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:32
2
What is Donald Trump proposing to build at the White House and why does it matter?
3:32–8:53
3
How big is the White House and why is a new large event space needed?
8:53–18:25
4
How did Trump's earlier offer to fund a White House ballroom originate and what was the reaction?
18:25–25:06
5
Why are reporters and the public suspicious about the current East Wing excavation and donor funding?
25:06–26:04