Berk Kutay Gokmen
23 September 2026•Update: 23 September 2026
US President Donald Trump dismissed concerns about the safety of his proposed White House ballroom, telling the project’s original architect “I am the code,” The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
James McCrery II, the first architect hired to design the ballroom, repeatedly warned that a preliminary design lacked sufficient emergency exits and adequate fire-safety measures before withdrawing from the project last October, two people with knowledge of the discussions told the newspaper.
Trump rejected those concerns, arguing that building codes did not apply to construction at the White House, the Washington Post reported.
Interviews and documents reviewed by the Post, including early versions of the ballroom plans and images that Trump appeared to have marked up with his signature black Sharpie, suggest that the president has been closely involved in the project’s design details.
Federal agencies typically oversee White House construction and renovation projects and must follow nationally recognized building-safety standards to the “maximum extent feasible,” unless doing so would raise national security concerns, according to the report.
Trump’s projects, however, are being managed through the Executive Residence, a small office that is not considered a federal agency and is therefore not subject to the same requirements, the report added.
