The Trump administration has quietly redirected $352 million in federal funds intended for the Secret Service to the president’s White House ballroom project, according to Office of Management and Budget records obtained by Notus and reported by the Guardian.
About $340.8 million of the funding was placed into a government account labeled “Procurement, Construction, and Improvements” on June 12, according to OMB database records. Another $10.75 million was approved in a separate account labeled “Operations and Support” on the same day.
The funds were drawn from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s signature tax legislation passed last summer on a party-line vote. The law specifically states that the money may only be spent on Secret Service personnel, training facilities, technology, and related costs — not on construction.
The move comes after Congress explicitly declined to provide $1 billion in direct funding for the project, which the Trump administration calls the “East Wing Modernization Project.” The 90,000-square-foot ballroom is being built on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing. A federal judge ruled in March that the administration had likely exceeded its authority in demolishing the East Wing without congressional approval; that ruling remains subject to ongoing legal challenges.
The administration defended the transfer by arguing the funds were needed for legitimate security upgrades. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle pointed to an alleged plot to attack Sunday’s UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House south lawn. “The East Wing Modernization Project is inextricably tied to the security of the president, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets,” Ingle said. “President Trump and generous American patriots are funding the ballroom to the tune of approximately $400 million.”
MSI previously reported that the administration has argued in court that the project is too far along to stop. In a brief filed on June 14, government attorneys said halting construction would waste taxpayer money.
Ingle said the disrupted attacks “proves exactly why” the project’s security features — which he described as including “drone-proof structures and drone ports among other critical security enhancements” — are needed for events at the White House.
Senior legislators from both parties expressed skepticism. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who is retiring at the end of the year, told Notus: “That’s a big problem. That sounds like a different way to fund the East Wing project. On its face it doesn’t sound right.”
Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii on the appropriations committee, told the outlet: “I don’t know whether it’s the ballroom, but it sounds like the ballroom.”
The transfer is the latest development in a controversy over who is actually funding the project. When the ballroom was announced in July 2025 at an estimated cost of $200 million, Trump described it as “a private thing.” By late March, with estimates doubling to $400 million, Trump insisted: “This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents.”
Internal records obtained by the Washington Post from Clark Construction, the firm leading the project, show plans calling for $155 million from Secret Service funds, $149 million from the White House military office, and $3 million from the executive residence — all public money — alongside private contributions. The Washington Post reported total costs could reach $600 million.
Watchdogs including the Campaign Legal Center have warned that donations from major corporations such as Meta, Coinbase, and Lockheed Martin — all of which have significant interests before the federal government — create a substantial risk of corruption.