Trump’s $200 million ballroom “monstrosity” is under investigation by the House Oversight Committee, according to the committee’s top Democratic representative.
Speaking to MeidasTouch’s Ben Meiselas Thursday afternoon, Rep. Robert Garcia, 47, said the committee is looking into whether foreign governments are funding Trump’s 90,000 square foot gold-plated vanity project, as well as other potential improprieties related to its construction.
“Even if there were donations being made to build some of this,” said Garcia, “that monstrosity shouldn’t be there in the first place. Who’s involved? Are foreign governments paying for it? Oversight is already working on getting those answers and investigating what’s happening at the White House with this construction, because it’s outrageous.”
Trump aides have maintained that the ballroom is being funded by a mix of Trump himself and donors, which they’re using as an excuse to continue the ballroom’s construction during the government shutdown. The list of donors reportedly includes Google, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Palantir. YouTube donated $22 million of its $24 million settlement with Trump over suspending his account for the Jan. 6 insurrection to the ballroom.
“To me, it’s a symbol of all of his corruption,” said Meisalas.
Garcia and Meiselas also discussed Trump’s oft-repeated bizarre claim that the U.S. has already seen “$17 trillion of investment” since the start of his second term—a figure most think is a flat out lie, as that would raise the American GDP by over 50%.
“If there is $17 trillion somewhere, the government doesn’t know about it,” said Garcia. “None of our committees have access to it. Treasury has no idea what the hell he’s talking about. He’s either lying, or he’s somehow stashed away money in some magical way, which would mean even more corruption.”
The conversation caught the attention of Gavin Newsom, whose press office reposted the interview with the caption, “Trump has claimed $17 trillion has come in during his first 9 months! Yet, he’s shutdown the government! Either the money is missing. Or he’s misleading the American people!”
The Daily Beast reached out to The White House and Rep. Garcia for comment. The White House responded with an auto-reply email blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.
They later added a real response from spokesman Kush Desai, who said, “It’s amazing how desperate Democrats are to talk about anything other than how they shut down the federal government to give more freebies to illegal immigrants.”
