Late-night hosts tear into Donald Trump’s White Home development

[ad_1] Late-night hosts together with Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon have weighed in on President Donald Trump's White Home development venture.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's consultant through e-mail for touch upon Wednesday exterior common working hours.

Why It Issues The $250-million White Home ballroom venture, initiated by Trump, represents some of the vital alterations to the chief residence in a long time. As demolition began on the East Wing—part of the White Home that has housed the primary woman's places of work—the transfer sparked debate. Late-night tv hosts have seized on the problem, highlighting the juxtaposition between expensive renovations and ongoing nationwide points corresponding to the federal government shutdown.

What To Know On Monday, development started in Washington, D.C. to make approach for a brand new 90,000-square-foot, glass-walled ballroom with a capability to carry as much as 999 friends. The venture, personally championed by the president, is funded privately by a mixture of donors, companies and Trump himself.

Notably, the Nationwide Capital Planning Fee—which usually oversees federal property renovations within the Washington space—didn't log off on the venture, because the fee's chairman argued the company lacked jurisdiction over preliminary demolition.

Website preparations—together with the relocation of East Wing places of work and the clearing of timber—had begun in September, with the objective of finishing the ballroom earlier than Trump's time period concludes. The White Home insists the primary mansion will stay untouched, and touts the venture as persevering with a practice of government residence modernization, citing upgrades by earlier presidents. The administration has emphasised that no taxpayer funds are concerned, although detailed donor disclosures stay pending.

<img id="10917908" alt="" caption="(L) Stephen Colbert introduces the Filmmaker Tribute to Martin Scorsese during the 12th Annual Montclair Film Festival at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on October 27, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (C) President Donald Trump gestures while answering questions from reporters as he tours the roof of the West Wing of the White House on August 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (R) Seth Meyers speaks onstage during the American Museum of Natural History's 2023 Museum Gala at the American Museum of Natural History on November 30, 2023 in New York City." captionoverride="Composite image of, left to right, late-night-host Stephen Colbert, President Donald Trump and Seth Meyers." src="Michael Loccisano/Getty Images; Win McNamee/Getty Images; Mike Coppola/Getty Images for the American Museum of Natural History" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="3000" height="2000" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Copy-of-32-image-11-29.png?w=640&quality=75&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Copy-of-32-image-11-29.png?w=750&quality=75&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Copy-of-32-image-11-29.png?w=1000&quality=75&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Copy-of-32-image-11-29.png?w=1200&quality=75&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Copy-of-32-image-11-29.png?w=1360&quality=75&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Copy-of-32-image-11-29.png?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Copy-of-32-image-11-29.png?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1"/> What Individuals Are Saying Stephen Colbert commented on The Late Present: "We're simply 9 months into Trump's time period, and he is going 'Hulk smash' on the White Home…That is taking place after Trump particularly promised his ballroom development would not contact the present White Home…At this level, ought to we even imagine that is going to finish up being a ballroom? It may simply as simply find yourself being a mixture Pizza Hut, Taco Bell."

On Late Night time With Seth Meyers, host Seth Meyers mentioned: "Development employees yesterday started tearing down a portion of the East Wing of the White Home to construct President Trump's new ballroom. You guys, I do not suppose he is planning on leaving in three years. If I had three years left on a lease, I would not even put up a shelf."

On The Tonight Present, Jimmy Fallon joked: "For Trump, flattening partitions is simple; it’s constructing them that’s laborious."

Michael Kosta of The Every day Present commented: "The federal government shutdown is now in its third week. Numerous federal staff aren’t being paid, meals stamps will run out quickly, and there’s no finish in sight. However to not fear: President Trump is working day and evening to construct a ballroom. It is precisely what you voted for, coal miners in Pennsylvania…Who’s his normal contractor, Bin Laden and Sons?"

President Donald Trump, defending the venture from the Rose Backyard, expressed his enthusiasm in a press release per CBS Information: "We're placing up our personal cash, the federal government is paying for nothing. You in all probability hear the attractive sound of development to the again. You hear that sound? Oh, that’s music to my ears. I really like that sound. Different individuals do not prefer it, I like it. I believe once I hear that sound, it jogs my memory of cash. On this case, it jogs my memory of lack of cash as a result of I’m paying for it, so it’s the other. However it will be some of the lovely ballrooms wherever on the earth."

White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt advised a lot of the criticism amounted to "pretend outrage," stating to Fox Information: "Practically each single president who’s lived on this lovely White Home behind me has made modernizations and renovations of their very own."

What Occurs Subsequent Work on the White Home ballroom is anticipated to proceed by Trump’s present time period, with the objective of completion by January 2029, The Related Press reported.