Donald Trump’s White House renovation keeps drawing attention with each passing day. Besides being criticised for being over the top and “ruining” the history of the place, a new controversy has now emerged around the lavish White House ballroom project.
The same is now the subject of a House Oversight Committee investigation. The ballroom, described as a $200 million gold-plated vanity project spanning 90,000 square feet, is under scrutiny over whether its funding has ties to foreign governments.
Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat and member of the committee, confirmed the investigation during an interview with MeidasTouch. Garcia said, “Even if there were donations being made to build some of this, that monstrosity shouldn’t be there in the first place. Who’s involved? Are foreign governments paying for it? Oversight is already working on getting those answers and investigating what’s happening at the White House with this construction, because it’s outrageous.”
Despite the federal government shutdown, construction on the ballroom has not stopped. Trump administration officials insist that the build is being financed through a combination of Trump’s own money and donations from key corporate supporters. Among those reported donors are Google, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Palantir.
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The controversy deepened earlier this week after reports surfaced of a major financial settlement connected directly to the ballroom’s funding. YouTube, which is owned by Google — paid $24.5 million to resolve a longstanding lawsuit brought by Trump.
Of that total, $22 million was given to support the ongoing ballroom project and a donation to the Trust for the National Mall. The remainder, $2.5 million, is expected to cover payments to other figures tied to the case, including writer Naomi Wolf and the American Conservative Union.
The lawsuit stemmed from the suspension of Trump’s YouTube account after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, which followed the election of President Joe Biden. Trump argued that YouTube’s decision unfairly silenced him, especially as he pursued court challenges against Big Tech platforms he claimed were biased against him.
It should be noted here that court filings have mentioned that Google’s settlement is not an admission of liability. The company has not offered public comment on why the matter was resolved.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is the third major tech giant to reach a settlement with Trump. Earlier, Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent company, agreed to pay $25 million to settle over his suspension from the platform in 2021.
Twitter, now owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk and rebranded as X, also agreed to pay $10 million to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against them. Legal analysts at the time noted that Trump’s chances of winning these cases outright were minimal, yet the settlements reveal a different outcome.
The $24.5 million agreement with YouTube has broader implications given the timing. Court documents state that Trump’s YouTube account was reinstated in 2023, long after the lawsuit was first filed. Meanwhile, Alphabet’s financial performance has remained robust, with reports showing its market value reaching nearly $3 trillion. That figure represents an increase of about $600 billion, or 25%, since Trump’s return to the White House.
Still, questions about the ballroom’s construction continue to rise. Donations linked to corporate giants and any involvement of foreign backers could pose serious ethical and even legal issues. Garcia and other members of the oversight committee are intent on uncovering who exactly is footing the bill for Trump’s opulent project.
The investigation also comes just a week before an important court hearing. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers in Oakland, California, had scheduled a discussion of Trump’s lawsuit for October 6, according to a report by the Irish Star. The disclosure of Alphabet’s settlement just in advance of this hearing has added fuel to the mounting speculation around both the case and the ballroom’s financing.
It now remains to be seen what new information comes out about Trump’s White House renovation project and how it affects the entire construction, going forward.
