Demolition of a section of the East Wing of the White House, during construction on the new ballroom extension of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025.
Aaron Schartz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Tech giant Alphabet is contributing $22 million to help build the White House ballroom under a legal settlement reached with President Donald Trump last month over his being banned from the company’s YouTube platform after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by his supporters.
Images showing the demolition of part of the White House’s East Wing to prepare for building the ballroom plans triggered public anger this week.
The demolition work has raised questions about who is footing the bill for the planned $250 million, 90,000 square-foot building.
The Google parent Alphabet’s contribution in the form of the settlement, which was recorded in Oakland, California, federal court, represents nearly 10% of the estimated construction costs.
The settlement notes that the $22 million will be contributed on Trump’s behalf “to the Trust for the National Mall, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity dedicated to restoring, preserving, and elevating the National Mall, to support the construction of the White House State Ballroom.”
Trump, who in July promised that the East Wing’s structure would not be touched to build the ballroom, has promised that American taxpayers will not pay for the ballroom.
Trump has said that he and private donors will cover the costs.
But it is still unclear who all the other contributors are and how much they have agreed to pay for the ballroom’s construction.
A demolition crew takes apart the facade of the East Wing of the White House, where U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom is being built, in Washington, D.C., October 21, 2025.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
In July, Trump promised construction of the ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building.”
“It’ll be near it but not touching it, and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of,” Trump said of the East Wing at the time.
The Treasury Department banned its staff from sharing photos of the East Wing, saying this would pose a potential security risk. The department is located next to the White House with a clear view of the demolition work.
The White House has dismissed the anger as “manufactured outrage.”
Comcast, the current parent company of CNBC, was on a list of top donors to the ballroom. It is not clear how much Comcast is contributing. CNBC will spin off from Comcast before the end of this year under a new parent company Versant.
