The White House East Wing is currently undergoing a major facelift as President Trump’s July 2025 proposal to build a ballroom began earlier this month. The addition is expected to hold approximately 1,000 guests in the proposed 90,000 square-foot facility.
The new structure has met fierce scrutiny from the Mockingbird media and political opponents of President Trump given the timing of the development during a federal shutdown. Democrats in the Senate continue to withhold the necessary votes to pass yet another continuing resolution.
Meanwhile, the entirety of the $200-300 million project being funded not by the taxpayer but rather by donors and the President himself.
Failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who slid into that “nomination” without receiving a single Democrat vote in the primary, invoked starving babies in a vulgar rant on the Jon Stewart podcast when comparing it to Trump’s construction project.
Again: the continuing resolution is being held up by Democrats in the Senate, not Republicans. President Trump has no legal authority until the bill reaches the Resolute Desk.
NEW: Kamala Harris *MELTS DOWN* over Trump ballroom
“Are you f*cking kidding me? This guy wants to create a ballroom for his rich friends while completely turning a blind eye to the fact that babies are going to starve when the SNAP benefits end in just hours from now! Come… pic.twitter.com/11iT7n3EH7
— Jason Cohen (@JasonJournoDC) October 30, 2025
Another vocal critic, and a potential 2028 presidential hopeful, is California Governor Gavin Newsom. As far back as August, Newsom has criticized President Trump as living “in his own make-believe world,” saying “he’s too busy daydreaming about his $200M gold-plated ballroom”.
Earlier this week, Newsom posted on X that President Trump is building “his knock-off Versailles on White House grounds” while “his government shutdown is depriving millions of Californians” from food assistance. To date, a budget bill has not reached his desk as Democrats have continued to thwart passage in the Republican-controlled House and Senate.
Newsom, however, has his own problems with renovations and exorbitant costs in California’s state capitol. These issues, in fact, are funded by the taxpayers of California, in contrast to the “knock-off Versailles” funding at the White House.
As reported by KCRA 3’s Ashley Zavala, the California Capitol Annex project is coming under tremendous scrutiny in the Golden State. The years-long project that is estimated to cost taxpayers $1.1 billion has been less than transparent. In fact, according to Zavala, it has been “at least three years” since the California Legislature has provided any updates on the Capitol’s additions.
This week during a press conference, Newsom promised to “add a topic [to the] next conversation” with legislatures “around the annex.” Newsom proceeded to apologize for the lack of transparency from the Legislature and claimed he “didn’t know they weren’t talking” about the project.
During the off-topic question, Newsom called the White House construction a “desecration” and said the funding came under “curious circumstances” while claiming he had no knowledge of the lack of transparency regarding the annex project.
But Zavala had previously uncovered the creation of a three-member executive committee that meets “behind closed doors” to make decisions on the project. One member is directly tied to Newsom’s administration.
New: On CA Capitol Annex, Gov. Newsom said “as a taxpayer” he’d “like to know” about costs being kept from the public.
Turns out, his office’s Director of Operations has been on a panel that meets regularly and makes final decisions on the project in private. pic.twitter.com/4S8uZ5na7r
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) October 30, 2025
From KCRA 3’s reporting:
Documents provided to KCRA 3 show Newsom’s director of operations has been part of a three-member executive committee that is expected to meet regularly and vote on final decisions about the project behind closed doors. The committee includes Newsom’s current Director of Operations Miroslava de la O, Democratic Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco and Democratic State Sen. John Laird.
A 2018 memorandum of understanding between the Legislature and governor’s office established the committee to ensure the legislature keeps the governor’s office in the loop on the project. While the legislature’s Joint Rules Committee does the bulk of the decision making, the agreement lays out ways in which the governor’s office is involved. The memo includes the expectations for the committee, stating it should meet as needed, with a monthly standing meeting that can be “more frequent or cancelled as necessary.”
The memo also states major changes to project scope, schedules, budgets and delivery methods made by the committee shall be subject to a majority vote. The memo has allowed everything the committee does to be kept confidential. The agreement was established before Newsom took office.
All three members of the committee have signed nondisclosure agreements that the Legislature has required since 2018 from people involved in the project in order to keep broad information about it confidential, which KCRA 3 first reported last fall. With the NDAs in place, the project price tag swelled from $558.2 million to more than $1 billion.
The post Glass Houses: 2028 Presidential-Hopeful Gavin Newsom Tied to Secretive Billion Dollar Taxpayer-Funded Expansion of California State Capitol appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.