Trump’s ballroom won’t host a White House correspondents’ dinner, critics say

President Donald Trump, senior officials in his administration and many MAGA figures strongly insist that a White House ballroom be built, citing the shooting incident outside the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that led to Trump’s expulsion from the event at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night.

Trump and his supporters say building the controversial $400 million ballpark is a legal challenge he sees as essential to keeping him — and future presidents — safe from assassination attacks and other security threats.

But critics say the White House ballpark will not be accepted as a substitute for a private venue for non-governmental events and that presidents will undoubtedly tour the country and the world, making public appearances in many places.

Despite that initial claim, the Justice Department, in a letter Sunday to a lawyer whose client is challenging the construction of the ballroom, suggested that the WHCA could hold its annual dinner in the ballroom once it is built.

“Once the White House ballroom is completed, President Trump and his successors will no longer have to go outside White House security to attend large gatherings at the Washington Hilton,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate wrote to Gregory Craig. Craig is representing the National Trust for Historical Preservation in its lawsuit seeking to prevent the ballroom from being built without Congressional approval.

But critics say Trump and his allies are relegating their feud to the football field by citing Saturday’s incident.

They also say there’s good reason to believe that he — and any future president — won’t stop attending events outside the White House grounds even if the ballroom ends up being built.

They also scoff at the idea that the WHCA — the independent association of White House reporters — would agree to hold its dinner at the White House, especially when a staunch media critic like Trump occupies the Oval Office.

Weijia Jiang, president of the WHCA and a reporter with CBS, did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on that question.

But Kelly McBride, executive vice president and chair of the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership
at the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit that promotes the ethics and development of journalists, said, “There’s no way they’re going to do that” when asked about the WHCA’s idea of ​​hosting a White House dinner.

McBride is a critic of the WHCA’s annual dinner, describing it in an article published on April 16 as “a red carpet schmoozefest with powerful sources pulling it together,” saying it “wasn’t a good idea.”

“The annual explanation that it’s just a show of good behavior in the party and the people who cover it doesn’t overcome the public’s doubts about our independence,” McBride wrote.

In an interview with CNBC, McBride said, “I can’t imagine a world where even people who are thinking of keeping this dinner and keeping this invitation to the president thinking of taking it to a place owned and operated by the White House is a good idea.”

“It solves the security problem, but it creates a big problem for journalists, doesn’t it? Which means that now they have been seen by the White House for this event,” he said.

“They’re losing their independence,” McBride said. “If the original optics are wrong, holding it in a ballroom controlled by the White House is totally unacceptable.”

He said it’s not surprising how Trump and his administration quickly used the shooting as an argument on the football field.

“Trump has always been an incredible opportunist,” she said.

It is also unclear whether other non-media groups not affiliated with the US government would agree to hold their signature events, which could include an appearance by the president, at a football stadium controlled by that president.

Since the National Prayer Breakfast began in 1953, every American president has attended it, including Trump, who delivered his speech in February at this event attended by many members of Congress where he highlighted his campaign to manage people entering the country illegally.

The breakfast was held at the Washington Hilton, the same location where we have been since the 1980s, and the same space as Saturday’s WHCA event. The Hilton has a 30,000-square-foot ballroom, one of the largest in Washington.

Rep. Ben Cline, a Virginia Republican who chairs the National Prayer Breakfast, said in a statement to CNBC on Tuesday that the event will be held at the Hilton next year.

“It was an honor to bring this event back to the Washington Hilton this year, and security will be a top priority when we host it there again,” said Cline.

“While I support the construction of a new White House Ballroom, I remain confident in the ability of the Secret Service to protect and defend the President.”

Virginia Canter, senior counsel and director of ethics and anti-corruption at the Democracy Defenders Fund, an advocacy group that has supported numerous legal challenges to Trump’s policies, said, “It’s outrageous that they would use a potentially catastrophic event to justify building a decorated football stadium for this person.”

“I don’t think they took two beats before they tried to do this justification for the ballpark,” Canter said.

“What do we mean, are presidents going to hold events at the ballpark? Are we going to have to build another ballroom at Mar-a-Lago?” Canter asked, referring to Trump’s residence and private club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Canter said that in addition to being a government position, the position of president “is also a political one.”

“He should be out in the crowd” at events outside the White House, she said.

Canter said Trump’s opposition to football stadium security is contradicted by events he has attended around the country, including rallies.

“I mean, it’s crazy. He goes golfing every weekend,” she said.

Trump was the target of an assassination attempt on September 15, 2024, while playing golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. A Secret Service agent thwarted that attempt.

“The ballroom is a vanity project; it’s not a national security project,” Canter said. “The ballroom is being built because it wants to put a stamp on the White House.”

“The solution is not to have a ballroom every time there is a security event.”

Canter noted that if Trump or other presidents insist on events where they are guests in the ballroom, “It will give him the power to control the invitation list.”

He said he expected that would be a non-starter for the White House Correspondents’ Association.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle, in a statement Tuesday when asked about the criticism of the ballroom, said, “As President Trump has said many times, the White House has long been designed to be a safe and secure place that can host public gatherings without jeopardizing the safety of the President and the safety of all staff, guests and visitors.”

“The Ballroom has been meticulously designed with advanced security features – including bulletproof glass, drone detection technology, projectile-resistant materials, and a host of other national security features that will make it the safest ballroom in the world,” Ingle said.

Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, acting president of policy and government affairs at the Project On Government Oversight, another advocacy group, said, “There’s a good legitimate case … that there should be a larger entertainment center” in the White House.

“I don’t think it’s a completely unreasonable idea,” Hedtler-Gaudette said, noting that currently, when the White House hosts large events such as dinners, it sets up a tent on the lawn.

But Hedtler-Gaudette objected to the way Trump’s ballroom project has been started, without the approval of Congress, without input from other government agencies that usually measure the design and scope of such a building, and with private funding from companies that do business and are under the control of the federal government.

He also pointed to Trump’s mention of the football field at a White House press conference shortly after he was fired Saturday after the Hilton shooting, and the widespread use of the incident as a football field argument Sunday by his supporters on social media.

“If it’s that fast, and it’s universal, it seems to make sense,” Hedtler-Gaudette said.

He said this shooting incident, which led to the arrest of a California man on the charge of trying to kill Trump and others, is very bad.

“Trying to exploit that” while the ballroom is facing legal backlash and even though it doesn’t have the support of the majority of the community, “seems bad to me,” Hedtler-Gaudette said.

He was skeptical that the ballroom, if built, would be regularly used by foreign parties, as Trump has suggested.

“How likely is it that the White House will allow a trade association to hire [the ballroom] will you host dinner?” asked Hedtler-Gaudette.

He said that while Trump is in office, groups may be able to use the ballroom “I would think … that it would be some kind of MAGA ecosystem,” referring to the president’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

The DOJ, which is defending Trump in a lawsuit against the ballroom, in a court filing Monday night is doubling down on its attack on the National Trust for Historic Preservation — calling the group’s very name “FAKE” — arguing that a federal judge is striking down a law that would block construction.

“Saturday’s narrow miss — marking the third assassination attempt against President Trump since 2024 — proves what should have been obvious,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote.

“Presidents need a secure place for major events, which is not currently in Washington, DC, and the Court’s order to stop this activity cannot be continued without accountability, for the safety of President Trump, future Presidents, and their families, Cabinets, and staff,” Blanche wrote.