US President Donald Trump on Sunday made a fresh call for building a high-security ballroom within the White House complex, hours after he was evacuated from the annual dinner of journalists at a downtown hotel following a shooting incident.
“This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday morning, and called for dropping the court case in the matter.
A federal court has halted the White House's efforts to build a $400 million ballroom in the east wing, citing the need for Congressional authorisation and violations of preservation statutes.
The Trump administration has filed an appeal, which is expected to come up for hearing on June 5.
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“What happened last (Saturday) 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 said on social media.
“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 president said.
Trump slammed the petitioner in the case, contending that she had absolutely no standing to bring such a suit and it must be dropped immediately.
“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. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule,” the president said.
Several top cabinet colleagues in the line of succession such as Vice President J D Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were present at the dinner.
Trump's supporters also issued statements after the Saturday night incident in favour of the ballroom in the White House complex.
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Matthew Quinn, deputy director of the Secret Service, wrote in court filings that it's important for the ballroom project to go forward for security at the White House.
“An above-ground slab and topping structure is needed to ensure that key underground structures with a security purpose are properly protected and strengthened,” Quinn wrote.
He added: “Leaving the project site unfinished imperils the ability of the Secret Service to meet its statutory mission to protect the president.”
Trump last month offered a list of what's being done to enhance security while the ballroom is built.
“The roof is droneproof. We have secure air-handling systems. You know, bad things happen in the air if you have bad people,” the president said.
“We have biodefense all over. We have secure telecommunications and communications all over. We have bomb shelters that we're building. We have a hospital and very major medical facilities that we're building.”
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The history of a bunker beneath the East Wing dates to Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, when an underground bomb shelter was installed in 1942 after the United States entered World War II.
White House Vice President Dick Cheney was taken to the underground bunker, called the Presidential Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC) after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
More recently, Trump was rushed to a White House bunker in 2020 amid protests stemming from the death of George Floyd.
At the time, there were chants from protesters at Lafayette Park that could be heard in the building, and Secret Service and law enforcement officers struggled to control the crowds.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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