Cocktails, Bomb Shelters, Very Strong Stone: Trump Raves About Ballroom As Crews Race To Build It

BreakingBusinessCocktails, Bomb Shelters, Very Strong Stone: Trump Raves About Ballroom As Crews Race To Build ItBySara Dorn,Forbes Staff. Sara Dorn is a Forbes news reporter who covers politics.Follow AuthorAug 19, 2026, 02:25pm EDTToplinePresident Donald Trump said his White House ballroom will feature space outside of the White House for “cocktails” in addition to “bomb shelters” and stone that lasts over 1 million years, he told reporters while raving about the structure his administration is rushing to build before a court can stop it.President Donald Trump speaks to the press at the construction site of a helipad on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 19, 2026. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty ImagesKey FactsTrump gave a rapid-fire breakdown of the features of the ballroom while giving reporters a tour of the construction site, along with the new helipad being built on the White House lawn. He said the stone being used for the project “will never break, it will never leak,” is “rated a million-year plus” and weighs “35,000 pounds per square inch.”The ballroom, he said, will allow patrons to “get out of the car and they walk down this path onto that and they can have cocktails and everything outside of the White House and then they go into the ballroom,” which is also “so much a military component with the drones and bomb shelters and everything else we have in there.” Trump’s latest diatribe on the project came as the Supreme Court is considering whether to weigh in on the project after lower courts ruled it can’t continue without congressional approval. In its latest argument, the Trump administration told the high court construction is too far along to be stopped now, and that crews aren’t slowing down, working 20 hours a day, seven days a week in an apparent attempt to complete as much of the structure as possible before the court can stop it (the ballroom is scheduled to open in 2028). Trump said Wednesda...