Trump told crews working on his White House ballroom to ignore permitting, zoning or code requirements: report By Ariana Baio, President Donald Trump encouraged those working on the construction of his new White House ballroom project to disregard traditional permitting, zoning, and code requirements, according to a new report. Since announcing the project in July, Trump’s ballroom has become larger, costlier and more destructive than initially thought – raising concerns about whether the president is following historical rules when it comes to a White House addition. The ballroom’s capacity, initially thought to be 650, has been raised to 900. Its cost has nearly doubled from $200 million to $350 million. Its construction, which Trump initially said would not interfere with the integrity of the current White House, has led to the destruction of the East Wing. But to ensure the new ballroom is erected, the president has installed loyalists into positions that would approve the new design and reportedly told teams they do not need to follow the same permit and zoning rules as other properties, the New York Times reported. At an October event to raise money for the ballroom project, Trump touted to potential donors that he was told he didn’t need to follow the traditional conditions. President Donald Trump touted to potential ballroom donors that he did not need to follow zoning rules because he was the president (AFP via Getty Images) The ballroom, anticipated to be completed before 2029, is being privately funded. The president has given millions to fund it and several major companies, including Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Meta and others, have donated. “I said, ‘How long will it take?’ They said, ‘Sir, you can start tonight… You have zero zoning conditions, you’re the president,’” Trump told the room of potential donors.