President Donald Trump has announced the commencement of construction for a large ballroom within the White House. This comes about three months after White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt hinted at the construction of a large ballroom last July. On October 20 (local time), President Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, "I am pleased to announce the groundbreaking for a new, large, and beautiful White House ballroom on the White House grounds." He added, "The East Wing, which is completely separate from the main White House building, is being fully modernized as part of this (ballroom construction) process, and upon completion, it will be more beautiful than ever."

President Trump announced the commencement of construction for a large ballroom within the White House. This comes about three months after Caroline Levitt, White House spokesperson, hinted at the construction of the large ballroom last July. Reuters Yonhap News

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He continued, "For over 150 years, every president has dreamed of having a ballroom at the White House to host grand parties and state visits," emphasizing, "It is an honor to be the first president to finally move forward with this much-needed project." Most notably, President Trump stressed that no American taxpayer money would be used for the construction of the ballroom, stating, "The White House ballroom is being funded by many generous patriots, great American companies, and myself personally," and added, "This ballroom will be happily used for generations to come."

Earlier that day, President Trump also announced the groundbreaking during a celebration held in the White House East Room, where he hosted this year's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) baseball champions, the Louisiana State University (LSU) Tigers, and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) baseball champions, the LSU Shreveport Pilots. He said, "We just started today." He also remarked, "This (East Room) was originally the ballroom, and it accommodated 88 people, but the new venue will accommodate 999 people. I set the number at 999 because I thought people might worry if it exceeded 1,000."

President Trump is seen showing a baseball bat as he departs after attending the visit of the LSU Tigers and LSU Shreveport Pilots baseball champions at the East Room of the White House in Washington D.C. on the 20th. Photo by EPA Yonhap News

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Previously, White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt had announced in July that construction of a large ballroom with a capacity of 650 people would begin in September. However, it appears that the capacity has increased from the original plan and the groundbreaking was delayed by about a month. At that time, Levitt stated that the ballroom construction would be completed before the end of President Trump's term and that the 200 million dollar (approximately 284.4 billion won) construction cost would be covered by President Trump and other donors.