Trump leaves the meeting to look out the window
President Donald Trump became so excited about building his increasingly expensive new White House ballroom that he got up from a meeting with oil executives on Friday to look out the window.
“It’s an unusual time to watch, but I thought we might as well do it,” Trump said, drawing laughter from the room. His more than 30 guests, who included executives from Exxon and Chevron, remained seated while Trump stood for about 20 seconds admiring the progress.
The president mentioned the ballroom while complaining about how small the current White House briefing rooms are, saying that Friday’s meeting would have had room for “over 1,000 people” if it had been held in the ballroom.
“Now that I think about it, wow. I have to see it myself,” Trump said as he turned to look out the window behind him and then stood up to marvel at the project.
via News
via News
via News
“Wow, what a view. This is the door to the ballroom,” he told his guests.
When he sat back down, he talked more about (you guessed it) the ballroom.
“You see a very large base that is moving. We are ahead of schedule in the ballroom and under budget,” he said.
The White House originally projected in July that the project, which called for tearing down the East Wing, would cost $200 million in donated funds. But last month, Trump said it would cost twice as much.
Donors identified by the White House include Trump himself and several big tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Coinbase and Meta.
“Actually, I don’t think there’s anything like it in the world,” Trump told oil executives on Friday.
“The ballroom will seat many,” he continued, “and will also accommodate the grand opening, with bulletproof glass, drone-proof ceilings, and everything that, unfortunately, is needed today.”