White House told the Supreme Court the East Wing project was 65% finished. But spending records suggest otherwise

The Trump administration told the Supreme Court about two weeks ago that construction of a new White House East Wing was “65% finished.” Officials used that figure as part of their argument that the work had already gone too far for the court to halt it.

The Washington Post reported that a confidential agreement with contractor Clark Construction, which the newspaper reviewed, set a different measure. The agreement, finalized before Clark started demolition last October, says payments to the contractor should match the share of work completed and that work cannot begin until the government approves the spending.

Based on that standard, if 65 percent of the work were done, the government would already have paid 65 percent of the project’s total cost, the newspaper reported. Publicly available appropriations data cited by the Post showed that as of the end of July, the White House budget office had approved $144 million from an account used for the East Wing and other White House projects.

Spending records and the contract appear to show a lower share of work completed

Even if that entire $144 million went to the East Wing, it would come to only about 24 percent of the $600 million estimated construction cost that Clark provided the White House in March, according to the Post. 

In the same mid-August court filing that claimed 65 percent of the project was done, the administration said it had already spent “around $200 million.” If the government had spent $200 million on the East Wing project, the work would be just 33 percent complete based on the $600 million budget estimate.

Joshua Fisher, the director for White House Management and Administration who is overseeing the construction, made the 65 percent claim in a sworn declaration. Fisher did not explain how the percentage was calculated. He stated, “Work has progressed too far to go back to the drawing board.”

His assertion came as the administration asked the Supreme Court to allow work on the ballroom to continue after lower courts ruled that the project was probably illegal without congressional approval and that construction must stop. 

The administration argued in part that stopping work while courts considered the case brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation would cause “chaos in service of nothing” because the project had already progressed “beyond the point of judicial intervention.” A related report described how Trump called the court halt a disgrace.

The White House did not answer the Post’s questions about the 65 percent figure and instead provided a statement from spokesman Davis Ingle.

“President Trump continues to implement long-overdue and necessary renovations to beautify the People’s House as we approach our great Nation’s 250th anniversary of independence,” the statement said. “Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come.”

The Justice Department, which represents the administration in court, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fisher did not respond to a request for comment. Clark referred questions to the White House.

Clark’s contract says the company will be paid monthly based on the percentage of total work that has been done. Eight construction experts consulted by the Post said that dollars spent is the standard method for measuring completion of large-scale construction projects.

Even if progress was measured according to Trump’s repeated claim that the ballroom will cost $400 million, paid for by private donors, it would be considered only halfway complete, the Post reported. In public statements, the president has sometimes drawn a distinction between funding for the ballroom and security improvements tied to it, which the administration has acknowledged will be paid for by the Secret Service and the military.

Clark’s March budget estimate indicated that half the total $600 million cost was to be paid for with tax dollars, according to the Post. Senate Republicans separately scrapped one billion for the ballroom from a budget package.

In its request to the Supreme Court to allow construction to proceed, the administration wrote: “The Project is on time and under budget, and the ballroom is funded with approximately $400 million in private donations … zero taxpayer dollars are needed or required.”

Measured by the expected duration of the work, the project is about 30 percent complete, according to the administration’s timeline. Fisher said in his declaration that construction began in late October 2025 and is expected to be complete in August 2028. That puts the work 10 months into a 34-month construction schedule.

The president is still tinkering with the overall plans for the East Wing, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe internal discussions.

Some of those changes involve the ballroom’s exterior. Renderings that the administration shared with the Supreme Court this month included the addition of a new feature that Trump picked out –  golden seals on the exterior of the ballroom – and the restoration of another feature, a staircase, that had been included in prior plans before being abandoned.

One of the people with knowledge of the project said construction was not nearly 65 percent complete. “I’m not sure they’re 65 percent complete with designing the ballroom,” the person said. “The ballroom continues to undergo significant changes to the base design, even while construction is ongoing.”

Carl Elefante, a retired D.C.-area architect and former president of the American Institute of Architects, called the government’s claim about the completion percentage “doubtful” after the Post shared its findings. He said, “You really want to understand why there’s such a big gap there.”