Sen. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat weighing a 2028 run for the presidency, said he supports tearing down the $600 million White House ballroom and $100 million Great Triumphal Arch the Trump administration is currently building.
Mr. Gallego said he wants to remove everything Mr. Trump has erected in Washington or affixed his name to since taking office in 2025.
“I think I’d be advocating for almost all of that,” Mr. Gallego said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked whether he’d tear down the ballroom and arch.
“The fact that he has destroyed the institutions that have kept this government together through some of the hardest times and eroded, for example, our Department of Justice is another reason why we need to be taking down all these, you know, honorific situations or emblems of him,” Mr. Gallego said.
The Triumphal Arch, now under construction on the Memorial Circle in Arlington, Virginia, is a 250-foot stone and granite-clad structure that will be topped with golden statues commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Opponents say it will dwarf existing monuments and detract from Arlington National Cemetery, located a half-mile away. The left-wing watchdog group Public Citizen represents a group of veterans and an architect suing to block the arch.
Mr. Gallego called the arch “an ugly monstrosity,” in view of the sacred military burial ground.
“That arch is another reason why that needs to be taken care of,” Mr. Gallego said. “Because this man has done nothing but actually destroying the very fundamental things that these men and women have fought for, which is to save this country and continue this democracy.”
At least half the projected cost of the ballroom is expected to come from taxpayers to pay for improved security and a military bunker.
The ballroom construction is moving swiftly despite a lawsuit that attempted to shut down the project.
Mr. Trump hired hundreds of workers who are on the job 20 hours a day, seven days a week. According to court documents, the project is nearly two-thirds finished. The 90,000-square-foot project includes the 22,000-square-foot ballroom, new office space and an underground military bunker.
In a 5-4 decision last month, the Supreme Court ruled against the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit to stop the ballroom.
The majority said the organization likely lacks legal standing to sue and that statements by military and intelligence leaders that the ballroom is critical to security supported allowing the work to continue.
Mr. Trump has promoted the ballroom as a world-class gathering space to welcome foreign leaders and host major conferences and dinners.
But increasingly he’s cast the project as a security matter.
He said the ballroom is being combined with upgrades, including a “drone-proof” ceiling, blast-proof glass, bomb shelters, missile-resistant columns and “top secret military facilities.”
Mr. Trump last month said the ballroom is coming in “under budget and ahead of schedule.”
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