White House Blasts Scathing New York Times Analysis Of Ballroom That Found 'Stairs Lead Nowhere'

Source: Forbes

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White House Blasts Scathing New York Times Analysis Of Ballroom That Found 'Stairs Lead Nowhere'

By Zachary Folk, Forbes Staff. I cover breaking news.

Mar 29, 2026, 05:13pm EDT

Topline
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized the authors of a New York Times (1) architectural analysis of President Donald Trump's proposed White House ballroom that published Sunday, lambasting the writers and lauding the president as a builder of "world-class buildings" but not addressing the criticisms of the structure.


Karoline Leavitt called out the critics as people who "never built anything."
The Washington Post via Getty Images

Key Facts
* In a post on X, Leavitt lashed out at the authors of the Times story, which included one trained architect, as people who "never built anything"--comparing them negatively to Trump and the lead architect designing the ballroom, Shalom Baranes.

* The Times piece pointed out numerous portions of the facade's most striking features appear strictly for aesthetics based on released materials, such as the grand staircase on the building's south portico leads that to a row of columns obstructing the windows, and not to a door or entranceway, noting "its stairs lead nowhere."

* The Times analysis also compared the fast-paced approval process from the Commission of Fine Arts for the controversial ballroom project to other recent changes to the White House grounds, noting that a change to the building's fences took nine months of public meetings during Trump's first term to make a much less visible adjustment to the grounds.

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Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2026/03/29/white-house-blasts-scathing-new-york-times-analysis-of-ballroom-that-found-stairs-lead-nowhere/