President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. military asked him to double the size of the White House ballroom construction project.
Trump made the remarks while showing reporters the construction of the new White House East Wing, which will house the 90,000-square-foot ballroom.
“We’re right on budget, we’re right on plan,” Trump said. “The only budget change would be that we doubled the size at the request of the military. We doubled the size, but we’re right on budget, right on plan.”
Trump said initially the plan was “to build a much smaller room,” but it “wouldn’t have done the job.” The president also highlighted the security capabilities of the new East Wing modernization project.
“It’s larger because they wanted more military capacity,” said Trump. “They wanted more drone capacity. They needed a larger roof, and frankly, we needed a larger facility.”
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“We’ve done this in strict coordination with the military and with the Secret Service, and they’ve been great to work with,” added the president.
Trump said the new construction had “drone proofing” and “missile proofing.”