CNN's Abby Phillip on Tuesday showed viewers a damning montage of President Donald Trump promising the American people that his controversial new White House ballroom project would be privately funded and cost them nothing — only for that to likely change.
The NewsNight host noted at the top of the segment that the ballroom was initially touted as a wholly donor-funded project. Now, a proposal released Monday shows Senate Republicans are seeking $1 billion in taxpayer dollars for "security enhancements."
"It looks like American taxpayers could be footing the bill for President Trump's ballroom after all," Phillip said Tuesday. "Senate Republicans are now looking to give the Secret Service 1 billion — yeah, that's billion, with a B — dollars for security upgrades for this project."
She added, "And the GOP is arguing that the public should bankroll some of the costs after last month's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. But that's not what Trump has been saying since he started his prized renovation project."
Phillip then played a rather brutal montage of the president's litany of initial promises made about the ballroom, which he made space for by demolishing the East Wing of the White House last year.
The footage showed Trump making statements such as, "This is taxpayer free," "We did this no charge to the taxpayer whatsoever," "I'm paying for it; the country is not," "It's being paid for 100% by me and some friends of mine, donors" and "Zero taxpayer dollars."
Phillip turned to her guest, GOP strategist Brad Todd, asking plainly once the montage concluded, "Brad, what in the bait and switch is this?"
"Well, what I would tell you is if Democrats had been willing to fund the Department of Homeland Security and not shut the government down, we would not have this reconciliation vehicle," said Todd, prompting laughter from most of the panel.
Todd went on to claim that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) "were not planning on doing this" — and that Democrats "forced them to." His statements sparked rabid cross talk with interruptions from fellow panelists.
Phillip noted Trump previously said the project would be privately funded and cost $400 million. "So now, to then come and say after the fact, well, there's security upgrades that we need to make and it's going to cost two and a half times that amount, in addition to the $400 million, that is a bait and switch for the American people," she said.
Trump has indeed repeatedly maintained his ballroom would cost taxpayers nothing. He recently revealed the military is building a "massive complex" — which was "supposed to be a secret" — beneath it.
