Donald Trump lashes out after US court blocks his $400m White House ballroom

Donald Trump has hit out at a US appeals court decision to block his $400m (£297m) White House ballroom.

The federal appeals court ordered the Trump administration to stop ‌construction of the ballroom on the site of the White House's demolished East Wing.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump described the ballroom as "desperately needed", "totally secure" and said it was being built "ahead of schedule and under budget".

He said the court had "refused to acknowledge" the ballroom "is a gift from President Trump and Great Patriots of the United States of America".

"There will be no expense to the American taxpayer," he claimed, adding: "This unjust decision must be overturned by the Supreme Court in its entirety."

Mr Trump has previously said the construction of the ballroom would be funded by $400m in private donations.

But Senate Republicans have sought $1bn (£750m) in taxpayer funding for security upgrades to the ballroom and other structures beneath it.

Democrats have criticised the project as expensive, frivolous and diverting federal resources that could be instead focused on helping Americans with rising costs.

On Friday, the Washington-based US Court of Appeals for the District of ​Columbia Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction won by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Last year the non-profit organisation sued ​after the Trump administration tore down the East Wing and began building ‌a 90,000 sq ft (8,360-square-meter) ballroom without authorisation from Congress.

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The judge also paused the block on the project for 14 days to allow the Trump administration to appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court.

Mr Trump had appealed after US District Judge Richard Leon twice blocked above-ground construction on the site while allowing underground work to continue.

Judge Leon, appointed by Republican former President George W. Bush, had ruled that no federal statute "comes close to giving the President" the required authority to construct the ballroom without congressional approval.

The administration says the plan is necessary for large formal functions and to preserve the safety of the White House.

It is the grandest of Mr Trump's efforts to reshape central Washington's landscape of government buildings and national monuments.

Justice Department attorney Yaakov Roth said during D.C. Circuit arguments on 5 June that the courts have no role in weighing the privately ​funded project and that it would have been improper to block ​it at any point.

Mr Roth said the National Trust's "architectural preference" against the ballroom ​should not take precedence over national security concerns, claiming evidence that the former East ⁠Wing left the president and others in the White House vulnerable to attack.

But Thaddeus Heuer, a lawyer for the preservation group, countered this, saying: "They just don't want to go to Congress."

(c) Sky News 2026: Donald Trump lashes out after US court blocks his $400m White House ballroom