President Trump revealed his plans for some big changes at the White House, one of which he said has been desired for a hundred years but has never come to fruition.
Speaking to NBC News’s Kristen Welker, Trump said one change will be to add a hard surface to the Rose Garden.
“The problem with the Rose Garden is the grass is always soaking wet and you can’t use it for news conferences,” he explained. “You’re supposed to have news conferences, meetings, all this in the Rose Garden. So we’re going to put a beautiful stone surface down so that people — for instance, we had something the other day and it actually didn’t rain for three or four days and the women were still getting stuck in the grass. And we want to put it to work. So we’re going to do something in terms of a hard surface. It’ll look beautiful.”
But that’s not all.
The “big thing,” as Trump described it, is building a ballroom at the White House—an addition that’s been wanted for a long time, he claimed, but former presidents “were not real estate people.”
With his background, however, Trump said he knows how to get it done.
“What we’re going to do, you’re going to see the most beautiful ballroom in the world,” he noted.
“We are going to make and build a ballroom, which they’ve wanted for probably a hundred years at the White House,” the president added. “And it’ll be a world-class, beautiful ballroom, and they’ll use the meeting rooms already existing. And we’re going to get that started over the next few months, and it’s going to be beautiful. And it’ll be done properly, and I will fund it.”
Welker followed up on his last point to confirm.
“You will fund it?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m not going to ask the government for money,” he replied. “I’ll fund it, and I’m sure we’ll have some donations to it. But it’s not an inexpensive thing. It’ll cost a lot of money.”
Asked where it will be located, he said “near the East Wing,” but it’s hard to explain without the drawings. Currently there are three or four design concepts, and they’re working with architects and planners to build it.
Trump explained why he believes a ballroom is a necessary addition to the White House.
"You know, when they have a party for, like, when the head of China comes in—or the head of anybody, you know, head of anything, they have a party where they have a tent 200 yards away, where people have to walk in the rain to get to a tent. And that’s not for us. That’s not for the United States of America.”
.@POTUS: "We are going to make and build a ballroom, which they've wanted for probably 100 years, at the White House. And it will be a world-class, beautiful ballroom."
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 4, 2025
NBC: You will fund it?@POTUS: "Yeah. I'm not going to ask the government for money." pic.twitter.com/fxCVvOzCFY