Trump turns the WHCD shooting into a pitch for the White House ballroom

PolicyClosePolicyPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All PolicyPoliticsClosePoliticsPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All PoliticsTrump turns the WHCD shooting into a pitch for the White House ballroom “This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom,” he wrote on Truth Social. “This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom,” he wrote on Truth Social.by Tina NguyenCloseTina NguyenSenior Reporter, WashingtonPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Tina NguyenApr 26, 2026, 4:18 PM UTCLinkShareGiftPresident Donald Trump speaks during a press conference while flanked by FBI Director Kash Patel and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin at the White House on April 25, 2026. Nathan Howard/Getty Images.Tina NguyenCloseTina NguyenPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Tina Nguyen is a Senior Reporter for The Verge and author of Regulator, covering the second Trump administration, political influencers, tech lobbying and Big Tech vs. Big Government.Within hours of an armed gunman’s attempt to enter the White House Correspondents Dinner, attended by top administration officials and hundreds of journalists, President Donald Trump did what he does best: use the assassination attempt to defend his ballroom project.During a White House press conference just hours after he and several cabinet members were evacuated, Trump told reporters that the Washington Hilton, the hotel where the WHCD historically takes place, was “not a particularly secure building. And I didn’t want to say this, but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. It’s actually a larger room and it’s much more secure.”The morning after the alleged assassination attempt, Trump doubled down on his ballroom demands via a Truth Social post. “What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE. This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough!”Last month, a federal judge halted construction on the White House ballroom, one of the more controversial projects of the second Trump administration. The $400 million project, which began when Trump suddenly ordered the demolition of the East Wing last October, is widely seen as a vehicle for corporate donors trying to curry favor with Trump. Notably, several major tech and crypto corporations have donated to the nonprofit fund, including Amazon, Apple, Coinbase, Gemini, Google, Meta, and Microsoft, raising questions about whether they’re trying to influence Trump to sign favorable tech policies.The freeze was in response to a lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, alleging that Trump had acted improperly by not seeking the approval of Congress as required by federal law before destroying the East Wing.In his post, Trump called the lawsuit “ridiculous” and demanded again that the lawsuit be dropped. “Nothing…

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