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Fox News host Jesse Waters claims President Donald Trump told him he was building new White House ballroom as a ‘monument’ to himself
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He added that Trump said he did it because “no one would”
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Waters recounted the alleged conversation while speaking at the Turning Point USA festival in Phoenix on Dec. 20.
Jesse Waters claims President Donald Trump told him he was building the new White House ballroom as a “monument” to himself and that he was doing it “because no one else would.”
The Fox News host recounted the alleged conversation while speaking at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest on Saturday, December 20. The festival is a multi-day conservative conference and festival in Phoenix. A video of the moment was posted on X.
Waters, 47, told a large crowd that he was having dinner with Trump, 79, when the president asked him if he wanted to see a performance in a “big, beautiful ballroom.”
“I said, ‘Sure, let me see it,'” Waters continued. “he [Trump] Push the whole thing out. Guys, I don’t know if you know this – the ballroom is huge. Like, I said, ‘Mr. Mr. President, the ballroom is four times the size of the White House. “”
McCreary Architects/White House
Renderings of the interior of the proposed White House ballroom
“He said, ‘Jesse, this is a monument. I’m building a monument to myself — because no one else is going to do that,'” Waters added, drawing laughter from the audience.
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Trump recently said the 90,000-square-foot ballroom being built on the site of the former East Wing will now cost $400 million, a significant increase from previous estimates.
Trump announced the updated price tag at a Hanukkah reception at the White House on December 17, where he also revealed that a federal judge had allowed construction to move forward on the controversial project. He repeated the figure several times while thanking officials for clearing the way for continued construction, calling the ruling an act of “courage.”
The ballroom is funded entirely by private donors, including a donation from Trump himself, and is expected to be completed by summer 2028.
Pedro Ugarte/AFP Photo: Getty
Heavy machinery demolishes part of the East Wing as construction begins on the White House Ballroom on October 20, 2025
Trump argued that the massive ballroom was needed so that future presidents could hold large events indoors rather than on the South Lawn.
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It’s unclear how many people the space can accommodate. Trump told NBC News in September that it could hold up to 900 people; the BBC reported that 1,350 people were planned.
On Dec. 16, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon denied a request by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to temporarily halt construction while the project undergoes additional review, the Associated Press reported.
However, the judge said he plans to hold a hearing on the group’s request for a preliminary injunction in January and warned the government against making an underground construction decision that would lock in the above-ground ballroom design, Bloomberg reported.
Read the original article on People