Half of White House ballroom construction funded by taxes, despite Trump's claim that "donations will cover it"

[The Financial News] The cost of the new White House ballroom project led by U.S. President Donald Trump has ballooned, and more than half of the total budget is now being funded by taxes, contrary to Trump’s earlier claim.
On the 16th local time, The Washington Post reported that it had obtained and analyzed exclusive estimates, emails, and other documents exchanged between the ballroom contractor and The White House since last year, confirming the finding.
The ballroom project was first announced on July 31 last year. At the time, The White House said Trump and "patriotic donors" would cover the project budget of $200 million, or about 302.78 billion won.
However, before the announcement, The White House had already received a preliminary estimate from the contractor showing total project costs of $270 million, or about 408.564 billion won. In particular, about $100 million, or about 151.32 billion won, was listed under the budgets of the United States Secret Service (USSS) and the White House Military Office, both funded by the national budget.
On October 20 last year, demolition work on the existing East Wing began. Two days later, Trump said, "The total project cost has been raised to $300 million," and declared, "My friends and I will cover the entire cost."
But a project outline prepared by the contractor at the time already put the expected total cost at $478 million, or about 722.975 billion won, with roughly half of that to be covered by national funds from the Secret Service and the White House Military Office.
In March this year, the contractor finally informed The White House that the expected cost had risen to as much as $600 million, or about 907.44 billion won. In just seven months, the project cost had more than doubled.
The contractor also presented a detailed breakdown, saying that of the increased funding, $293 million would come from private funds in the form of donations, $155 million from the USSS budget, $149 million from the White House Military Office budget, and the remaining $3 million from the Presidential Residence of South Korea budget.
whywani@fnnews.com Hong Chaewan Reporter