Democrats are accusing President Donald Trump of using over $350 million from his tax cuts bill to fund his new ballroom project at the White House, despite his repeated claims that no taxpayer dollars would be used for the project.

Background

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget made the allocation of funds late last week, which was intended to provide the U.S. Secret Service with extra money for hiring and training in the aftermath of last year’s assassination attempts on the president.

Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, whose panel initially drafted the security funding, said he was unaware of the allocations. The president had previously stated that the ballroom project would be paid for with private money, which is what the country expects, according to Grassley.

Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, charged that Trump’s actions are potentially illegal and that he has proven that he can’t be trusted to follow the law.

White House Response

A spokesman for the White House said that Trump and donors are funding some $400 million for the ballroom development, and that the coordination with the Secret Service had been noted in the initial announcement of the project.

The White House has argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones and missiles, and that the events over the past weekend, including an alleged attack plan targeting the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, prove why the project is needed.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.