'Soulless hotel conference space': Approval for Trump's East Wing ballroom delayed amid scathing public feedback [View all]

Source: CNN Politics

Updated Mar 5, 2026, 11:26 AM ET
PUBLISHED Mar 5, 2026, 6:00 AM ET


Approval for President Donald Trump’s massive East Wing ballroom project – from a government commission that oversees planning for federal buildings and land in the nation’s capital – is delayed after it received over 32,000 comments from the public overwhelmingly opposing the construction.

The National Capital Planning Commission was expected to take a final vote to approve plans for the ballroom on Thursday, marking the latest clearance for the project in a process that has been on a fast track since Trump suddenly demolished the East Wing last October. But the commission announced Thursday that the vote was postponed to April 2 "given the large amount of public input on the project."

"We’re going to take the time to deliberate, and we’re going to have a final vote on April 2," NCPC chairman and Trump aide Will Scharf said as the meeting began.

Some 9,000 pages of public comments to the NCPC released ahead of the meeting detailed major objections from Americans who expressed concerns about the project’s size and scope, cost and destruction of history, among other complaints.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/05/politics/trump-east-wing-ballroom-commission-vote