Media: First architect of White House ballroom leaves project

James McCrery, the first architect of the new White House ballroom, stopped working on the project in October 2025 following disagreements with US President Donald Trump, The Washington Post reports, citing sources and documents it reviewed.

The report said Trump’s growing vision for the ballroom triggered a cascade of design issues, including conflicts with building standards McCrery was trained to follow.

The architect warned that the preliminary design did not meet safety requirements, as it lacked adequate evacuation routes and necessary fire protection measures.

According to sources, Trump dismissed McCrery’s concerns and stated that no building codes applied to the construction of the White House. “I am the code,” the president said.

The episode, according to people familiar with the matter, offers fresh insight into Trump’s priorities for the ballroom as he uses his executive powers to accelerate construction projects across the US capital.

Interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Post — including early ballroom designs and images that Trump appeared to have annotated with his trademark black Sharpie — also reveal the extent of the president’s involvement in the project’s details.

White House renovations and construction projects are typically overseen by federal agencies, which are required by law to follow nationally recognised building safety standards to the “maximum extent feasible”, unless compliance would pose a national security risk.

Trump’s White House construction projects, however, are being handled through the Executive Residence, a small office that is not considered a federal agency and is therefore exempt from the rules that apply to government agencies.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov