GOP backs controversial White House ballroom after shooting
Saturday's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner has pushed Republicans to coalesce around President Trump's proposal for a new White House ballroom with a subterranean bunker.Why it matters: The $400 million ballroom would significantly alter the complex's structure and has drawn condemnation by preservationists and Democrats, who call it a vanity project backed by secretive donors seeking favor with the president.Driving the news: A suspect armed with a shotgun fired several rounds Saturday night at the Washington Hilton while trying to breach security.No Trump administration officials were injured, though acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday they may have been the intended targets.The intrigue: At a news conference after the shooting, Trump renewed his push for the ballroom and underground bunker, a project judges have repeatedly halted and blocked. What he's saying: "This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House," Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday morning."It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House.""Nothing should be allowed to interfere with with its construction, which is on budget and substantially ahead of schedule!!!"Conservative commentators echoed his message.Zoom in: "Unfortunately, … I had to be evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Dinner alongside the President and the entire cabinet," Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry wrote on X. " This event is yet another reason that President @realDonaldTrump's ballroom should be built!"Chaya Raichik, who runs the popular pro-conservative Libs of TikTok account, posted to her 4.7 million followers that the shooting "IS WHY WE NEED TRUMP'S BALLROOM."Far-right commentator Jack Posobiec wrote, "Thank God President Trump is building a ballroom at the White House," before later commenting that the event was poorly secured.Meghan McCain posted: "I don't want to hear one more f--king criticism of Trump's new ballroom at the White House."Zoom out: The ballroom is supposed to be a modernized version of the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), which was created in World War II.Officials used the PEOC during 9/11, and moved Trump there during the 2020 George Floyd protests.The redesign drew more than 9,000 pages of public comments criticizing the renovation, including from a Republican congressman who expressed "substantial concerns" about the changes.Aboveground construction of the ballroom can continue until a court hearing in June.Go deeper: Trump White House ballroom project includes underground military complex - Axios Washington D.C.