Karoline Leavitt gives update after furious White House ‘ballroom design flaw’ posts

Anger has simmered over the radical redesign of the White House by Donald Trump and his team since it was first announced

Karoline Leavitt has announced she will make an announcement after furiously lashing out at journalists following a new analysis from architects highlighting significant structural problems in President Donald Trump’s forthcoming ballroom.

Taking to X, Trump’s combative press secretary announced she will be holding a press conference at 1pm today. She added: “Tune in!”

It comes after a furore over the White House ballroom plans.

After the president’s $300 million White House ballroom faced criticism from a qualified architect, a fine arts specialist, and an urban planning commentator in The New York Times on Sunday, Trump’s 28-year-old spokesperson, vented her frustration at the Times and its writers on X, challenging their qualifications and maintaining that the “People’s House” has “needed” a ballroom for generations.

The writers identified that the 90,000-square-foot ballroom includes “fake windows on the north side,” columns that “block interior ballroom view,” and an “unnecessarily big” rooftop space.

They also noted that “its stairs lead nowhere,” with multiple ground-floor staircases seeming to lack any link to an entrance into the ballroom.

“The New York Times had three random people who have ‘studied fine arts,’ ‘long written about urban planning,’ and never built anything to write an article criticizing the new White House ballroom,” Leavitt shared on X, accompanied by screenshots of the original article.

Leavitt continued, stating: “President Trump and his lead architect have built world-class buildings around the world, and they are ensuring the People’s House finally has a beautiful ballroom that’s been needed for decades – at no expense to the taxpayer.” Multiple designs for Trump’s ballroom that have surfaced include a hastily assembled mockup by a contractor, windows that don’t match, and a staircase leading to nothing.

What began as a modest east wing addition has expanded into a 650-seat venue. From there, Trump pushed for a 999-seat ballroom before insisting on space for 1,350 guests.

James McCrery, a highly regarded conservative architect who operates a boutique Washington firm recognized for its Catholic church projects, was handpicked by Trump to lead the grand ballroom project – and was reportedly just as stunned as everyone else by the massive scale of the undertaking.

Moreover, Trump has expressed amazement that he “doesn’t need to comply with the permitting requirements he encountered in New York.”

He doesn’t require anyone’s approval, he has told those in his inner circle, and can “start any project at the White House as rapidly as he wishes,” the NYT reported. “You’re the president of the United States, you can do anything you want,” Trump said he’s been told.

The National Capital Planning Commission, which examines the project’s blueprints, had its director swapped out with Trump attorney Will Scharf. Scharf determined there was no need to review Trump’s plans before he gave the green light for the demolition of the East Wing.

She posted her reaction on X Contractors involved in the ballroom project, including McCrery Architects, Clark Construction, and AECOM, allegedly sidestepped the standard government bidding processes. Instead, Trump “personally handpicked each contractor” and supervised the terms of each contract, including payment, insiders revealed.

Despite assuring the American public in July that the ballroom wouldn’t affect the existing structure, particularly the historic East Wing, which once served as the first lady’s office space, he had already approved plans to demolish the East Wing to make room for the new ballroom, as reported by the New York Times.

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