Trump Promotes $400 Million White House Ballroom a Day After Midterm Wins

President Donald Trump promoted his $400 million plan to build a White House ballroom on Wednesday, November 4, a day after Democrats took control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in the midterm elections.

He spoke at a ceremony marking the raising of the final beam on the ballroom structure. Trump called the building "a special structure." He also said it would be "not only one of the biggest, but it'll be the most beautiful ballroom, I think, anywhere in the world," according to ArtNews.

The project has already changed the White House grounds. The East Wing was demolished to make room for it. Trump had earlier described the ballroom as "THE GREATEST OF ITS KIND!"

Trump has also said the project will include a military complex beneath the structure. Few other details of that element have been given.

The project has drawn a legal challenge. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a US nonprofit that works to protect historic buildings, filed a lawsuit aimed at halting construction. In September, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the work could go forward. The justices found that the National Trust did not have the legal grounds to bring the suit.

The midterm results were a wider shift in American politics. Democrats flipped more than two dozen Republican-held seats in the U.S. House, enough to win a majority, according to Reuters. Kentucky and New Jersey were among the states where those seats changed hands.

For now, the ballroom is moving from plan to finished frame. The final beam is in place, and the next stages of the build are still ahead.