Photos: White House Ballroom Protest as the National Capital Planning Commission Postpones Vote following Massive Public Pushback
This morning, Public Citizen held its second protest outside the National Capital Planning Commission against President Trump’s gaudy White House ballroom because of the project’s corporate ties. Click here for photos from the protest today.
Facing immense public scrutiny regarding the ballroom’s outrageous budget and design, the commission postponed its planned vote to approve Trump’s $400 million pet project. Jon Golinger, Public Citizen democracy advocate who has been tracking conflicts of interest tied to the ballroom, is slated to testify at the NCPC hearing late Thursday.
“A massive amount of money has flowed from corporations, billionaires, and an unknown number of secret donors through what a federal judge has called a ‘Rube Goldberg contraption’ designed to evade Congressional and public oversight and shield the donors and recipients of the money from scrutiny,” said Golinger. “According to news reports, the expectation is that those names will be etched on the White House as part of the ballroom’s brick or stone. It is outrageous that the Trump Administration would engrave the names of corporations with government contracts who gave them checks on the White House like a big tacky advertising billboard. I urge NCPC to explicitly prohibit them from doing so.”
Two key Public Citizen reports related to the White House ballroom:
- Trump’s Three Ballroom Stooges highlights how White House officials James Blair, William Scharf and Stuart Levenbach are not qualified to sit on the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and should not vote on Trump’s ballroom.
- Banquet of Greed exposes a myriad of conflicts of interest concerns about pay-to-play government contracts and dropped enforcement actions benefiting ballroom donors.