(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., supports the president’s White House ballroom renovation, seemingly putting him further at odds with his fellow Democrats.
His comments were made on Sunday morning, less than 12 hours after a man stormed the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and fired shots at a Secret Service agent at the Washington Hilton in the room outside of the event.
On Monday, Cole Tomas Allen, the alleged attacker, was charged with the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump.
“We were there front and center. That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government. After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these,” Fetterman said.
Fetterman’s reference of “TDS” is the shortened phrase of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a common line mentioned in defense of Trump from critics.
According to Reuters, Fetterman is the only Democrat serving in the U.S. Senate who has publicly voiced his support for building and funding the White House ballroom pushed by Trump.
A social media post from Burgess Everett, Semafor’s congressional bureau chief, indicates that the senator is also on board with a $400 million congressional appropriation to fund the project and build a Secret Service annex underground. The Center Square has not independently confirmed this.
Trump first formally announced his plans on July 31 to build an “addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.” In October, the east wing of the White House was demolished to make way for the new ballroom.
A federal judge last month issued an injunction halting construction after months of litigation, according to The Hill, though a “federal appeals court issued an administrative stay allowing the project to proceed until early June.” The ruling stated that construction had to stop unless Congress authorized funding for the project.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., announced on Monday that he would introduce legislation to authorize funding to fully fund construction of a White House ballroom, “which over time will provide adequate security for this president and future presidents for events like the White House Correspondents Dinner.”
However, the $400 million plan from Trump has received pushback, Axios reports, from preservationists and some Democrats, who have called it a “vanity project backed by secretive donors seeking favor with the president.”
While Fetterman has now formally endorsed building the White House ballroom, it’s not the first time he’s publicly addressed Trump’s plan.
In an interview with Fox News in August 2025, Fetterman said that he didn’t have a “strong opinion” on expanding the ballroom and how it should be paid for.
“I think everything that I've seen, the plans are going to be done in a tasteful and historical kind of a way,” Fetterman said in August. “I mean, they're not putting in a Dave and Busters kind of a situation here.”
“So, I think upgrading some of these facilities seems pretty normal,” he continued. “Overall, I don't have a strong opinion on it, but it's not a point where I'm going to freak out or make some kind of weird demandings, or have a hearing on it.”
At least one Pennsylvania Democrat is publicly expressing his disagreement with Fetterman’s comments, specifically taking issue with his reference of those opposing it as having “TDS.”
State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who also serves as a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, called Fetterman “a mess” on Sunday.
“Almost every day now my US Senator comes on this site to attack his constituents and many people who worked hard to elect him. Suggesting that they have “derangement syndrome” for opposing this administration. You’re a mess @JohnFetterman,” Kenyatta wrote on social media.
Saturday’s dinner had around 2,600 guests, according to Reuters, while Trump’s proposed ballroom would seat a maximum of 1,000 guests.
