White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to a New York Times hit piece critical of President Donald J. Trump’s new ballroom, ripping the paper’s shoddy reporting.
In a piece published over the weekend, the Times cited “architects” to besmirch the renovation project days before the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) is set for a final vote on the approval of the 90,000-square-foot addition to the White House’s East Wing.
Heavy on graphics, the paper nitpicks a number of architectural details, including the design of the portico, the kitchen, the first lady’s office, and the windows, suggesting that the ballroom has received insufficient scrutiny in comparison to previous changes to the building.
Leavitt slammed the Times in a Sunday post to X, pointing out her boss’s proven track record when it comes to designing “world-class” buildings and throwing shade at its dubious sources.
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.
President Trump and his lead architect have built world-class buildings around… https://t.co/qAl2gk6hDA pic.twitter.com/vRH9U6mes0
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 29, 2026
“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,” she wrote.
“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,” Leavitt added.
“The ballroom is literally an imposition between two branches of our government,” whined David Scott Parker, an architect on the board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who is quoted by the paper.
The piece criticizes the ballroom’s size, which it states is “far larger than industry standards,” and says that for “events with fewer than 1,000 people could feel empty.”
“The commercial kitchen and first lady’s office suite on the lower level are likewise supersized. And on the second-floor colonnade connecting the ballroom to the executive residence, a wall with masonry niches designed to look like windows will face the north (the direction from which most tourists get a glimpse of the White House). Behind them is a row of bathroom stalls,” according to the Times.
On Sunday night, the president revealed another detail about his prized project while speaking to reporters onboard Air Force One – a military bunker underneath the new ballroom.
“The military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that’s under construction, and we’re doing very well,” Trump said.
Trump: “The military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that’s under construction, and we’re doing very well, so we’re ahead of schedule”
pic.twitter.com/i5f1MHHLkk— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) March 30, 2026
“We have all bulletproof glass. We have drone-proof roofs, ceilings,” he told the reporters while showing off pictures of the new addition. “Everything is drone-proof and bulletproof, and unfortunately, we’re living in an age where that’s a good thing.”
“President Trump is the best builder and developer in the entire world, and the American people can rest well knowing that this project is in his hands,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement.
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