Overview
- Planet Labs imagery published by AFP shows the East Wing reduced to rubble, clearing the site for a roughly 8,300–8,400 m² ballroom designed to host up to about 1,000 guests.
- The White House now pegs the cost at about $300 million and says private donors and the president will cover it, with no taxpayer funds.
- A donor list released to media names tech firms and defense contractors including Amazon, Apple, Google and Lockheed Martin; T‑Mobile US says its contribution was to a partner foundation rather than a direct earmark for the hall.
- Preservation groups, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, are urging a stop and formal review as federal planning oversight remains constrained during the shutdown; public tours are paused.
- New reporting says officials have informally used “President Donald J. Trump Ballroom” as a working name, but Trump has not announced a name and has publicly dismissed self‑naming as “fake news.”