Donald Trump announced that a “massive” military complex is being built under the $300 million White House ballroom -Credit:Truth Social
(Truth Social)
Donald Trump “announced” that a “massive” military complex is being built under the $300 million White House ballroom construction.
The president told reporters on Sunday, “There’s not one dime of government money going into the ballroom. Now, the military is building a big complex under the ballroom, which has come out recently because of a stupid lawsuit that was filed. But the military is building a massive complex under the ballroom and that’s under construction and we’re doing very well. So we’re ahead of schedule.”
There has yet to be any official confirmation of an underground “bunker” or complex, despite Trump alluding to such a structure, and the publication of unconfirmed reports by media sites like CNN.
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Some of the other allegations come from Donald Trump’s niece, who said months ago that the president is exploiting the demolition of the East Wing and the construction of his ballroom to secretly enhance the White House bunker because he’s “paranoid”.
Trump had stated that his ballroom “wouldn’t interfere with the current building” when revealing it as a $200 million project earlier this year. But the country was left shocked last week when his administration tore down the entire East Wing as construction of the now $300million ballroom began.
Previously, Trump said during his Cabinet meeting on Thursday that, “This ballroom is gonna be something. It’s so beautiful for this city, so desperately needed by presidents. I get sued over a ballroom that’s the most beautiful ballroom in the country. You won’t have tents sitting on the wet White House lawn — if it rains, you get wiped out — to honor the president of China or the president of France.”
Architect Shalom Baranes shows a floor plan drawing for a new $400 million White House ballroom -Credit:Getty Images
Trump has yet to confirm anything, but it’s assumed that something the military wants or needs will be part of the structure because when the East Wing was controversially demolished in October to make way for Trump’s $400 million ballroom, it’s believed that an emergency operations bunker it sat atop was destroyed too.
The bunker was first built underneath the East Wing in 1941 to protect President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the event of an aerial attack on Washington, D.C. during World War II.
The East Wing served as the traditional headquarters for the first lady and her staff but the structure also housed an emergency bunker. During construction, “the bunker will receive upgrades”, sources informed CBS News.
While initially intended to be a bomb shelter, the underground facilities evolved over time to serve multiple functions, including becoming home to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), a centralized command facility for the president and his circle – built to withstand a potential nuclear explosion or other major attack.
Demolition of the East Wing began in October -Credit:Getty Images
However, a source with knowledge on the matter told CNN this week that the once-submarine-like bunker is now likely being renovated and fitted with new technology to address evolving threats.
In a recent National Capital Planning Commission meeting, White House director of management and administration Joshua Fisher said during a discussion about the ballroom that the project will “(enhance) mission critical functionality,” “make necessary security enhancements” and “(deliver) resilient, adaptive infrastructure aligned with future mission needs.”
Questioned about why the demolition of the East Wing took place without the commission’s approval, he claimed it was due to “top-secret” work taking place underground.
“There are some things regarding this project that are, frankly, of top-secret nature that we are currently working on. 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,” he said.