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Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., broke party lines again after the close call at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner this weekend, siding with President Donald Trump’s push to build a ballroom at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Fetterman, who has repeatedly shown he is willing to defy his party, posted on X that he was “there front and center” at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner when the shooting occurred Saturday night. The alleged shooter, 31-year-old California resident Cole Allen, broke through multiple layers of Secret Service security at the Washington Hilton and nearly opened fire in a room where the president, vice president, and other key administration and federal officials were present.
“After witnessing last night,” Fetterman called for people to “drop the TDS [Trump derangement syndrome] and build the White House ballroom.”
He said the purpose of the ballroom would be to host events “exactly like these.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., called for the completion of the new White House ballroom after the close call alleging an active shooter situation at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on March 25, 2026. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“We were there front and center,” he wrote. “That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government.”
Though construction is continuing on the $400 million privately funded White House ballroom, the project is currently bogged down in a legal challenge by the nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP). After the shooting, the Justice Department pressed NTHP to drop its lawsuit, citing concerns about the safety and security of the president and other key personnel.
“[Y]our lawsuit puts the lives of the president, his family, and his staff at grave risk,” Brett Shumate, assistant attorney general in DOJ’s Civil Division, wrote in a Sunday letter to opposing counsel, shared on X by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“Enough is enough,” Shumate continued. “Your client should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit today in light of last night’s assassination attempt on President Trump.”
“As history proves, that venue is demonstrably unsafe for the President of the United States because its size presents extraordinary security challenges for the Secret Service.
“[Saturday’s] assassination attempt on President Trump proves, yet again, that the White House ballroom is essential for the safety and security of the President, his family, his cabinet, and his staff.”
SECURITY UNDER SCRUTINY AS WHCD ATTENDEES CITE INCONSISTENT SCREENING BEFORE SHOOTING
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino jumps over a chair after an incident at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026. President Donald Trump and other officials were evacuated from the Washington Hilton following reports of gunfire. The FBI’s Washington field office said a subject is in custody. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Raquel Debono, a conservative influencer who attended the dinner, told Fox News Digital, “No ballroom no matter how grand, matters if we can’t keep people safe first.”
“Everyone’s debating architecture while a shooter got into what should have been the most heavily secured event in America – it’s a ridiculous distraction,” said Debono. “The security failures are the story. It was too easy to get in.”
Debono shared on X that she left the dinner early prior to the shooting due to an “uneasy feeling.” She noted that their bags were not checked and that people were “shoved through doors.”
Trump himself pointed to the incident as evidence that the hotel venue was “not a particularly secure building,” arguing that a new White House ballroom — equipped with features like bulletproof materials — would offer a safer alternative.
“It’s really what you need,” Trump said on Fox News on Sunday. “You can’t have a thousand [hotel] rooms or whatever it is, I mean, it’s a very big hotel, on top of the ballroom. And people come down the elevator, and they’re right next to the ballroom.”
President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House after an unspecified threat at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
Though the shooting prompted widespread calls for a White House ballroom, Fetterman stood out as a lone Democrat willing to join in on the push.
On Sunday, Fetterman admitted on CNN, “I never really had a strong opinion on the ballroom to be honest, but this clearly demonstrated [the need].”
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He emphasized the need to ensure not only the president’s protection but also that of those in the line of succession, should anything happen to the president.
“I just walked away from that still kind of stunned how lucky we were that no one was seriously hurt,” said Fetterman. “And when we have the significant majority of our leadership in a very small, clustered area, it could have been much more catastrophic for our nation that day.”
Fox News Digital’s Eric Mack and Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
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