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On the site of what was the White House’s East Wing, US President Donald Trump has begun construction of a $ 300m ballroom.

The complex’s first significant structural change since 1948 was the beginning of the construction project, which started on Monday. The former East Wing, which was used for ceremonies and the first lady’s offices, is being torn down.

Concerning the level of access this might grant donors to the country’s most powerful man, the work is being funded by private donations from people, businesses, and tech companies, including Google and Amazon.

According to a pledge form seen by CBS News, donors may be eligible for “recognition” of their contributions. However, more information about this has not been made.

What will the cost of the new ballroom be?

Since plans were made public earlier this year, the estimated cost of building Trump’s ornate, 8 360 square meters (90, 0000 square feet) ballroom, which he claims will accommodate 999 people, has fluctuated.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the cost would be about $200 million in a statement released in August. Trump, however, increased that figure to $300 million this week.

The National Capital Planning Commission, the federal agency overseeing these operations, is shut down, and construction began during a US government shutdown.

Who provides the ballroom funding?

Every President has dreamed of having a ballroom at the White House to accommodate guests for grand parties, state visits, etc., Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday. I’m honored to be the first president to finally start this urgent project at no extra cost to the American taxpayer.

He added that “The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by numerous generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly” and that he himself would also contribute to the bill.

However, it appears that at least some of the donations were made as part of negotiations with Trump regarding other matters.

As part of a legal agreement with Trump, YouTube will contribute $22 million to the ballroom’s construction as part of a settlement in 2021 regarding the suspension of his account following the Capitol riots that year when his supporters seized Congress on January 6 in an effort to stop Joe Biden from assuming the presidency. Alphabet, the parent company of YouTube and Google, is the same.

How much money would be donated by the White House was not made public. On a list that the White House gave to the media included other well-known donors, some of whom have recently been involved in US legal battles. Among them are:

Amazon

The Federal Trade Commission settled with Amazon last month over allegations that Jeff Bezos-founded multinational tech company had enrolled millions of customers in its streaming service, Prime, without their knowledge and made it difficult to revoke the subscriptions.

In addition to fixing its subscription system, Amazon will pay $ 2.5 billion in penalties and refunds as a result of the settlement.

Apple

CEO Tim Cook serves as CEO of US-based multinational Apple, which produces the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook.

Apple requested on Tuesday that a US appeals court overturn a federal judge’s April ruling that forbids it from collecting commissions on some app purchases.

Coinbase

The largest US cryptocurrency exchange is Coinbase. CEO Brian Armstrong serves as its leader.

A US federal judge upheld the company’s claim that it had the authority to file a narrowed lawsuit on September 30 and that it had the authority to sue the company for allegedly hiding significant business risks, including the possibility of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit and the possibility of losing assets in bankruptcy.

Google

A significant antitrust lawsuit against Google was brought by the US Department of Justice last month. The tech giant unlawfully monopolized online search and search advertising, according to a federal court ruling.

Lockheed Martin

President and CEO Jim Taiclet serves as the company’s president and CEO.

Lockheed Martin agreed to pay $ 29.74 million in February to settle federal claims that the business had overcharged the US government by providing inflated cost estimates for F-35 fighter jet contracts from 2013 to 2015.

Microsoft

Satya Nadella, the tech group’s CEO, made a record $ 96.5 million in 2025 as the company’s CEO.

Family of Lutnick

The Family of Lutnick is associated with businessman Howard Lutnick, who is also Trump’s commerce secretary.

The investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald is led by Lutnick. His business, Cantor Gaming, has previously been accused of repeatedly breaking state and federal laws, according to Politico’s report from February.

Twins Winklevoss

There are separate donors for Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

The brothers are known for cofounding the Gemini and Winklevoss Capital exchanges as well as US investors and entrepreneurs.

The SEC agreed to settle a lawsuit involving Gemini’s unregistered cryptocurrency lending program to retail investors last month.

Who else is there?

The list also includes:

• Altria Group
• Booz Allen Hamilton
• Caterpillar
• Comcast
• Emilia Fanjul and J. Pepe
• Hard Rock International
• HP
• Meta Platforms
• Micron Technology
• NextEra Energy
• Palantir Technologies
• Ripple
• Reynolds American
• T-Mobile
• Tether America
• Union Pacific
• Adelson Family Foundation
• Stefan E. Brodie
• Betty W. Johnson Foundation
• Cascarillas Charles and Marissa
• Shari and Edward Glazer
• Harold Hamm
• Benjamin Leon Sr.
• Foundation for Laura and Isaac Perlmutter
• Stephen A. Schwarzman
• Konstantin Sokolov
• Jeff Sprecher and Kelly Loeffler
• Paolo Tiramani

Is Trump’s ballroom’s private funding moral?

Bruce Fein, a constitutional lawyer, claimed that the private funding is in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act.

The executive branch of government is required by the US federal law to not accept donations from private individuals for official government purposes unless Congress has given them a legally enforceable consent.

According to Fein, the act safeguards the “congressive power of the purse.”

Consider the following analogy: Congress won’t fund a wall with Mexico. Could Trump proceed with the construction of the wall that Congress rejected funding with funding from Elon Musk or another billionaire friends?

All six people on board a maritime vessel have been killed as a result of the US’s 10th missile strike on it.

The total number of dead since the start of the bombing campaign is 43, with Friday’s attack adding to that number.

The US government has announced three strikes this week in as many days, which is also a rapid escalation of the air strikes.

Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, identified the victims as Tren de Aragua members and shared the news about the most recent bombing on his social media account.

He further claimed that President Donald Trump had once more granted permission for the alleged strike in Caribbean Sea waters.

Hegseth wrote that despite providing no proof, “the vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling,” and that it was moving along a known narco-trafficking route.

Hegseth added that this was the first nighttime military attack on a boat.

He then made a second, stronger, point, repeating the assertion that drug traffickers should not be treated similarly to armed organizations like al-Qaeda.

Hegseth remarked, “We will treat you like we treat al-Qaeda, if you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere.” We will track your people, hunt you down, and kill you, whether it be day or night.

Legal concerns grow.

Latin American cartels have traditionally been referred to as “foreign terrorist organizations” by the Trump administration, but they have started doing so this year.

Legal experts also contend that using military force alone does not support the use of terrorism.

Colombia and Venezuelan leaders have already condemned the bombing campaign as “murder,” and UN human rights experts have also criticized the killings as potential violations of international law.

Treaties like the UN Charter, which forbid the use of force in self-defense, are largely exceptions.

In response to the strikes, UN human rights experts, including Ben Saul, wrote that “international law does not permit the unilateral use of force abroad to combat terrorism and drug trafficking.”

11 people were killed when a missile strike on September 2st, which started the bombing campaign. In the same month, two more attacks were carried out.

However, the strikes have increased in frequency and their scope expanded in October.

While the majority of the known strikes were concentrated in the Caribbean, two were carried out for the first time last week in the Pacific Ocean.

Two survivors and a first come to mind when an attack on October 16 targeted a submersible.

Since then, those survivors have been re-admitted to Ecuador and Colombia, their home countries. The government in Ecuador let the man go shortly after his arrival, claiming that there was no evidence to charge him with a crime.

The bombing campaign has drawn criticism from opponents of extrajudicial killings. Some of the victims have been named as their loved ones by families in Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago, an island nation off the coast of Venezuela.

According to the families, the men were fishermen and not drug traffickers.

Trump asserts authority.

The Trump administration has nonetheless stated that it has no intention of halting its drug trafficking campaign.

The US president has also repeatedly threatened to expand his bombing campaign to include targets overland, a promise that hasn’t yet been fulfilled.

Trump was asked on Thursday at a White House roundtable about his plan to crack down on illegal drugs and why he hasn’t asked Congress for military authorization as the bombing campaign progresses.

Why not just ask for a declaration of war if you are going to fight these cartels and Congress is likely to support it? The president was questioned by one reporter.

Although it has previously issued “authorizations for the use of military force” or AUMFs for the president to carry out specific attacks, Congress still has the exclusive authority to authorize military action under the Constitution.

Critics claim that US presidents’ unilateral decisions have been increasingly used to justify military campaigns.

Trump was clear that he needed no such approval when the reporter inquired about it.

“I don’t believe we’ll need to request a declaration of war.” I believe that we will simply murder those who enter our nation with drugs. OK? We’re going to murder them. At Thursday’s roundtable, Trump responded, “They’re going to be, like, dead.”

Trump had claimed that the number of fatal drug overdoses supported his decision to launch the deadly bombing campaign at a press conference with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte the day before.

According to him, “This is a national security issue,” claiming that 300,000 US citizens have lost their lives as a result of the drug trade. And that gives you authority.

However, US government data does not support those statistics. According to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 73, 690 overdose deaths occurred in the US between April and April.

A new international security force, led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will only be able to support countries that Israel is “comfortable with.” He reiterated that UNRWA would not play a role in Gaza’s governance and that Hamas would not be involved.