The ballroom project has faced stiff opposition from historic preservation groups and sections of the public.
“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever - not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,” the National Trust for Historic Preservation said in its federal lawsuit.
“And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.” The case is still in litigation.
The commission’s Secretary Thomas Luebke said the panel had received over 2,000 comments from the public and that they were “overwhelmingly in opposition - over 99% to this project”.
Commission Vice Chairman James McCrery abstained from discussions and the vote at Thursday’s meeting. His architecture firm was initially selected by Trump to handle the ballroom, but the administration switched architects on the project to Shalom Baranes.
Two new Trump-appointed members of the commission were sworn in at the start of the meeting, including Chamberlain Harris, a White House aide.
Understood. The original PEOC was build with 1940s tech, and has surely been upgraded along the way. But this project is not about a ballroom.
When the initial ballroom news was spread, Trump bragged about hiring a prominent classical architect, James McCrery, known for designing large cathedrals and civic sites. Then after everyone ate up the ballroom story, he was fired and replaced with a bomb-shelter designer.
The budget and specifications involved with this project just happen to match those of deep underground military data centers recently built in Israel. These sister sites host military AI programs, like the Palentir software that chooses who gets drone striked.
The DC power grid capacity is being increased 500% and additional $300 million is being invested into DC water infrastructure, all for a “ballroom”.
Project funding is coming from private donations, bypassing Congressional oversight. Caterpillar, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Palantir, and Blackstone are all major contributors, some outright donating data center power and cooling hardware in addition to funding.
No, I don’t believe this is a ballroom project with some side renovations to an existing emergency shelter. This is a privately funded military AI datacenter, using the ballroom demolition as cover for the excavations necessary to bury it under the White House.