Trump and Republicans cite WHCA Dinner shooting to renew push for White House ballroom construction

The morning after the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, President Trump posts on Truth Social arguing his blocked ballroom project would have prevented the attack: "This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough!" Trump says the project is "on budget and substantially ahead of schedule" and calls for no interference with construction. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, evacuated alongside Trump, writes on X: "This event is yet another reason that President @realDonaldTrump's ballroom should be built!" The shooting gives fresh political momentum to a project that federal judges repeatedly halted. Trump holds an impromptu press conference calling the Washington Hilton "not particularly a secure building" — the same hotel where an assassination attempt targeted President Reagan in 1981. Courts had previously allowed the underground bunker to continue even while blocking above-ground ballroom construction.