Trump has stolen over $350 million of taxpayer money to pay for his ballroom

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https://apnews.com/article/congress-white-house-ballroom-trump-b832fcd816da7aa30c00e95998099fc6

Democrats say money from Trump’s tax cuts bill is paying for White House ballroom project
By LISA MASCARO
Updated 3:00 PM CDT, June 18, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than $350 million from President Donald Trump’s “ big, beautiful bill ” has been quietly directed to White House security, an allotment that Democrats warn appears to be helping fund his new ballroom project — despite the president’s insistence that no taxpayer dollars would be used.

The apportionment of funds, which the White House’s Office of Management and Budget made late Friday, comes from two accounts that were intended to provide the U.S. Secret Service with extra money for hiring and training in the aftermath of last year’s assassination attempts on the president, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee. The shift was made days after Congress rejected a $1 billion request for the White House in a Homeland Security bill that Trump signed law and as the ballroom project is tangled in legal challenges.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, whose panel initially drafted the security funding, said Thursday he was unaware of the allocations.

“The president said that it was all going to be paid for with private money,” said Grassley, R-Iowa. “And that’s what the country expects.”

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