Karoline Leavitt thinks Democrats are just jealous that Donald Trump is building a swanky $250 million ballroom at the White House.
The White House press secretary says that’s the only way to explain the “fake outrage” after part of the White House’s iconic East Wing was demolished to make way for the 90,000-square-foot structure.
The Trump administration has received widespread backlash for starting work on the event space that will eventually dwarf the White House itself. “It’s not his house. It’s your house. And he’s destroying it,” former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton posted on X.
But Trump officials have attempted to convince the public that it’s what presidents, administrations, and White House staff have longed for, for 150 years.
“Are the Democrats jealous that Trump is building this big beautiful ballroom?” Fox News host Jesse Watters asked Leavitt on Tuesday.
Leavitt replied that it “certainly appears that way.”
“I believe there’s a lot of fake outrage right now because nearly every single president who has lived in this beautiful White House behind me has made modernizations and renovations of their own,” she added.
She fawned over Trump, a former real estate developer, calling him “the builder-in-chief” who was re-elected for a second term as president “because he’s good at building things.”
“He has done it his entire life, his entire career. Construction is a process; at the end, the East Wing, which is an entirely separate structure from the executive mansion you see behind me, will be more modern and beautiful than ever,” Leavitt said.
“And then on top of that, the White House is going to have a big beautiful ballroom for generations of Americans to come—and the best part of it all, it’s not a dime of the taxpayers’ money.”
Leavitt said presidents for decades have quipped about how they wish they had a larger event space at the White House “that can hold hundreds more people than the current East Room and State Dining Rooms can.”
“In fact, President Obama notably complained that during his tenure, he had to hold a state visit on the South Lawn and get a very expensive tent,” Leavitt said. “So while many presidents have privately dreamt about this, it’s President Trump who is actually doing something about it.”
Obama did host a state visit for the Indian prime minister in 2009 in a tent on the South Lawn. “As we all know, in India some of life’s most treasured moments are often celebrated under the cover of a beautiful tent. It’s a little like tonight,” Obama said during his toast remarks at the time. It’s not clear what purported complaint Leavitt was referring to.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Obama for comment.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has embarked on an architectural mission. Besides the ballroom, he has already gilded the Oval Office with Rococo mirrors, gold medallions, and eagle figurines, paved over the Rose Garden with a concrete patio, and erected oversized flagpoles on the grounds.
Last week, the president unveiled his plans to build an arch on the other side of the Potomac River that could rival the Lincoln Memorial in scale.
At a lavish White House dinner for his billionaire backers, Trump showcased multiple proposed versions of an enormous triumphal arch he hopes to erect across from the Lincoln Memorial, awkwardly holding up miniature models for his guests to inspect.
Demolition of the East Wing began on Monday to kickstart Trump’s ballroom project.
“I am pleased to announce that ground has been broken on the White House grounds to build the new, big, beautiful White House Ballroom,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday evening. “Completely separate from the White House itself, the East Wing is being fully modernized as part of this process, and will be more beautiful than ever when it is complete!”
