President Donald Trump may have just confirmed what critics have suspected all along — his extravagant new White House ballroom isn’t as “privately funded” as he’s been claiming.
For months, Trump has bragged that the $300 million East Wing remodel is “at zero cost to taxpayers.” The White House press team echoed that line, insisting it’s being covered by “generous private donors.” But new details — and one unguarded comment from Trump himself — are shredding that narrative.
According to Business Insider, Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, is putting up $22 million toward the ballroom. Not as a show of patriotism, though — it’s part of a legal settlement after Trump sued the company for suspending his YouTube channel following the January 6 attack.
The money is being rerouted to the Trust for the National Mall, allowing Trump to frame it as a “donation” when it’s actually the result of a lawsuit he filed against a company he accused of “silencing” him.
On Truth Social, Trump boasted that the project was “privately funded by generous patriots, great American companies, and yours truly.” What he didn’t mention was that at least one of those “patriotic donors” is only paying because they were legally forced to.
Then came the moment that blew it all open.
Last week, during remarks about his ongoing $230 million claim against the Department of Justice — a “reimbursement,” he says, for the investigations into his campaign and handling of classified documents — Trump tried to brush off questions about the payout. Then he added, “I might donate any settlement to charity or use it to help pay for the ballroom.”
It sounded like a throwaway line, but to many, it was an accidental confession.
The internet wasted no time connecting the dots. “Weird how the ballroom is costing $250M and Trump is trying to extort the DOJ for $230M — roundabout way to make taxpayers dance,” the X account Outspoken posted.
Another user, @adgirlMM, wrote, “Trump’s ballroom is over budget and will now cost $250 million. Trump is also asking his own DOJ to pay him a ‘settlement’ of $230 million for the cases against him when he was just an indicted criminal candidate. Weird coincidence, right? And where is Congress? Nowhere.”
On Reddit, one user summed up the outrage: “This, more than anything else he’s done, is an example of king behavior. He’s so casual about it in his sense of entitlement, and jokes about spending it on something as frivolous as the White House upgrade. The Constitution no longer exists in his mind, and the Justice Department caters to his whims, which would have the Framers rolling in their graves. The whole game is rigged.”
The ballroom’s price tag has already jumped from $200 million to $300 million, and Trump confirmed this week that the entire East Wing will be torn down — a full reversal from his earlier promise that “We don’t touch the White House.”
“In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure,” Trump told reporters, calling the demolition necessary for “a world-class result.”
Critics see something else: a vanity project funded through backdoor settlements and potentially taxpayer money.
“Make no mistake: That’s $230 million out of taxpayer dollars,” wrote Ryan Shead on X. “This is what happens when you give a felon and business fraud unquestioned power and access. They rob you blind then blame it on the people who tried to prevent it. The White House is the People’s house, not a tax loophole for Trump. Let’s not forget that.”
Others pointed out the striking math. “So wait — Republicans are insisting Trump is paying for the $250,000,000 ballroom himself (he isn’t)… even as he extorts basically the same amount from the DOJ?” one user asked. “Y’all will really run cover for any amount of corruption and greed huh.”
Even some within Trump’s circle are uneasy.
According to The New York Times, Trump’s $230 million claim stems from two filings — one over the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search and another tied to the Russia probe. Though he submitted them before his reelection, the timing of their resurfacing — just as the ballroom’s cost ballooned — hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Trump has since insisted any DOJ money would “go to charity,” but he hasn’t named which one, or when that would happen. Meanwhile, construction on the ballroom is already underway.
Watchdogs say this could violate the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause, which forbids a president from taking payments from the federal government. “This would seem to be exactly the kind of scenario the Framers worried about,” wrote Daniel Weiner of the Brennan Center for Justice.
And the ethical conflicts don’t end there. The Times reported that any federal settlement above $4 million must be approved by the deputy attorney general — a position now held by Todd Blanche, Trump’s former defense attorney.
Ethics professor Bennett L. Gershman didn’t mince words: “You don’t need a law professor to explain how wrong this is. The people deciding whether he wins or loses the case are the same ones who serve him. It’s almost too outlandish to believe.”
What began as a “private project” to beautify the White House has morphed into something much darker — a self-funded monument to power, stitched together from legal settlements, government payouts, and taxpayer cash Trump swore he’d never touch.
And all it took was one offhand remark to reveal it. Check out the reactions below:
Trump: They raided my house. It was an illegal raid. I have a lawsuit that was doing very well and when I became president I said I'm sort of suing myself, I will say give me an X dollars pic.twitter.com/kt7rJHRWV8
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 15, 2025
🚨BREAKING: Donald Trump just casually admitted the ballroom will now cost $300 million – that’s $50 million morethan he claimed before.
He said it like it was nothing.Meanwhile, they “can’t afford” to save health care?
Republicans have ZERO shame.
pic.twitter.com/ic7zANlPGz— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) October 22, 2025
The whole East Wing is gone.
And if you think Trump is actually paying for this new $300 million dollar ballroom himself, I have a bridge to sell you. pic.twitter.com/8DxYq8qCP6
— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) October 23, 2025
I figured out how Donald Trump is paying for his $250 million vanity ballroom.
The President is requesting a $230 million settlement from the Department of Justice, citing emotional distress stemming from the DOJ investigations under Biden’s administration.
Make no mistake:… pic.twitter.com/Bg2di9dHzp
— Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) October 21, 2025
So wait — Republicans are insisting Trump is paying for the $250,000,000 ballroom himself (he isn’t)… even as he extorts basically the same amount from the DOJ?
Y’all will really run cover for any amount of corruption and greed huh pic.twitter.com/K6hqTOoact
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) October 22, 2025
