Up next in 10
Simon Marks is joined by US reporter Harriet Alexander as the US appeals court blocks Trump's $400 million White House ballroom project.
In a post on Truth Social, the US president branded the ruling "unjust", saying it "must be overturned by the Supreme Court in its entirety".
Mr Trump called the project a "desperately needed" and "totally secure" ballroom, claiming construction was ahead of schedule and under budget.
He said it was "a gift from President Trump and great patriots of the United States of America," adding there will be "no expense to the American taxpayer".
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0:00
talking about President Trump as we have been
0:02
He suffered a huge reverse yesterday at the hands of a federal appeals court
0:08
It ruled that he cannot continue building the ballroom and a six-story underground security bunker
0:15
that he is constructing where the old east wing of the White House used to stand
0:20
By a vote of two to one, the judges said he was required to consult
0:24
with Congress about his plans. And as you know, Instead, he just brought diggers to the White House
0:30
and demolished the East Wing without, as my late mother always used to put it, a buy-your-leave
0:36
Last night, Hillary Clinton told podcast host Cara Swisher that she is now making a list of all the structural changes to Washington
0:45
that will need to be dealt with whenever Donald Trump passes from the scene
0:50
The next president's going to have a big decision. What do you do with the half-finished ballroom
0:56
What would you do? I don't know. I mean, we don't know really what's going on underneath it. I don't know what they're doing down there. So you'd have to figure that out, too. But I think there'll have to be some, probably have to take down the arch, which he is determined to put up, which I think is just a terrible idea. I think we'll have to worry about the reflecting pool because it's not going to be fixed by the time he leaves, assuming he leaves. So there's going to be a long list. I'm making a list
1:26
Hillary Clinton making a list. Let's talk to Harriet Alexander, US reporter for the Daily Mail
1:33
joining us live from New York today. Harriet, it's good to see you. Thanks very much for being on the programme
1:38
I mean, that's one heck of a large building site Donald Trump has already created where the East Wing used to stand
1:46
This is now going to get decided by the US Supreme Court
1:51
And have we got any idea how long that's going to take? Good afternoon to you from London
1:55
Hi Simon Yeah I mean there it does very much look that way doesn it That the Supreme Court is going to be called in to decide this Donald Trump has already said that that what he intends
2:07
to do. Interestingly, the decision yesterday, that was stayed for 14 days. So that means that
2:16
the construction crews can keep working on this while this is all being thrashed out, essentially
2:23
Donald Trump has made this real cornerstone of his presidency. He's obsessed with it
2:28
He talks about it all the time. And almost sort of to stick, you know
2:33
to stick something in the eye of his critics, he insists on taking people around the site
2:39
on sort of these media tours. He's very proud of it. So he's not going to go quietly on this
2:44
And on one of those media tours, he made it absolutely apparent that this is not really a ballroom
2:50
We all call it the ballroom. he made it clear he was digging six stories underground
2:58
creating all sorts of facilities for the US military to use that were not in any clear way explained to the American public
3:07
And he described the ballroom, which is going to be on the top, as just a shield for everything that is going on underneath
3:15
And I think you may have heard there Hillary Clinton saying, we need to know what's down there
3:20
I mean, it's extraordinary that this is taking place. Yeah, it really is
3:25
Extraordinary is the word. He's really leaning into this idea now that it is necessary for security purposes
3:32
for national security, he says repeatedly, because he says there's going to be
3:37
all of this high-tech installation beneath the ground, because I think he maybe feels
3:42
that that is perhaps more of a winner in the judge's eyes
3:46
rather than saying it's just the ballroom. An interesting point, Simon, if you remember the back to the White House Correspondents
3:53
Association dinner back earlier this year in the spring when there was that shooting Trump used that to say this is why we need a ballroom to have secure facilities on site So he kind of grasping at everything that he possibly can to make this case and to argue that this ballroom needs to be built
4:12
But many see it just purely as a vanity project. I mean, a cynic might argue that a president that was intending never to leave power might fancy the idea of creating a heavily fortified bunker six stories deep beneath where the East Wing used to stand
4:25
But what is so revealing about that federal court ruling is that the Federal Appeals Court is basically saying, you weren't allowed to do this off your own bat
4:37
You actually needed to consult with Congress. And the Supreme Court on the issue of tariffs has said exactly the same thing
4:45
You weren't allowed to impose those reciprocal tariffs, which, of course, weren't reciprocal at all when you first came into power
4:52
Congress has to be involved. Congress is the unique source of power for imposing tariffs in the United States
5:01
And this all comes back, doesn't it, to a much more powerful view of the executive and the presidency
5:11
that Donald Trump and the people around him want to create than the United States Constitution actually allows for
5:19
Yes, absolutely. And you're really right to point that out. Another one I would add to that list is the Iran war that Congress should have been consulted on and, of course, never has been
5:31
And that is still continuing. So, you know, Donald Trump is riding roughshod over the norms that have governed America since, you know, for 250 years
5:41
He is determined to break the mold and do things in his own way
5:44
I think the founding fathers never really envisaged someone like Donald Trump taking the presidency and really just pushing it to the limits that he has
5:54
But that also coupled with the fact that Congress seems powerless to stop him On the ballroom in particular there was a vote several months ago in the Senate but it didn get the support because the Republicans control the Senate
6:09
So Congress is essentially a lame duck in all of this. And they're just watching kind of open
6:13
mouthed, as are the rest of us. And we've not even mentioned the reflecting pool, which is also still
6:18
a monumental pile of difficulty for him. Do you think Hillary Clinton's right? Do you think we're
6:24
going to get to 2029 into a new presidency, whoever enters the White House in 2029, and there are just
6:31
going to be building sites all over Washington, D.C., whether it's the quote-unquote ballroom
6:38
the arc to Trump, you know, that he's talking about changing the columns on the front of the
6:44
White House. Do you think that the incoming government is going to have monumental problems
6:50
to deal with about monuments in Washington, D.C.? Yeah, I mean, he truly is obsessed with this, Simon
6:57
He's put a helicopter landing pad right in front of the White House
7:01
I don't know if you've seen pictures of that. It's being built at the moment, and he complained
7:06
he ripped up some of the lawn to do that, and he complained that it wasn't quite level
7:10
so they had to start all over again. He's gilded some of the statues in D.C
7:16
with very, very shiny gold, gold leaf, at a cost of five million dollars just for the statues um he's really really preoccupied with
7:26
this um and you wonder what you know american voters make of it of course his critics hate it
7:31
and his supporters love it but you know it's it's quite something isn't it when you're supposed to
7:36
be running you know one of the world's most powerful countries and you're really obsessed
7:40
with tweaking around the edges of the city in which you're temporarily living and temporarily
7:45
really is the key word back to the ballroom as well, because this panel of judges, the federal appeal judges
7:53
they said that the president is the temporary inhabitant of the White House
7:58
and that means that something that substantial needs congressional approval because it's permanent
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