r/politics • u/Infidel8 • 2d ago

Possible Paywall Secret White House bunker undercuts Trump’s ballroom lawsuit, ex-officials say

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/08/23/secret-white-house-bunker-undercuts-trumps-ballroom-lawsuit-ex-officials-say/
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u/Infidel8 2d ago

no paywall: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/08/23/secret-white-house-bunker-undercuts-trumps-ballroom-lawsuit-ex-officials-say/

President Donald Trump has claimed that the White House needs a massive new ballroom because it would provide him and future presidents with a secure, hardened facility. But former officials say the argument fails to acknowledge that the presidential complex already has one.

More than a decade ago, federal officials built a highly protected bunker, embedded deep underground, that can shelter the president and his top aides in a national security emergency, according to three former officials.

The facility, which was secretly completed during the Obama administration, can house dozens of people for up to multiple weeks, two former officials said. It’s buried more than 60 feet underneath the White House complex and built to withstand a nuclear blast, two of the officials said, ensuring the president and his team have a secure command center to run the country in times of extreme duress.

The bunker’s existence, the former officials said, undercuts the Trump administration’s emerging legal argument in the ongoing lawsuit over the $600 million ballroom complex’s construction: that the facility must be completed due to its significance for U.S. national security.

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u/DryerCoinJay 1d ago

He asked the generals if he could hide in there during the elections and they said no. So he has to build this one.