President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom started last summer as a $200 million project that he repeatedly promised would be paid by private donations. The project has now grown, as has the price tag — to at least $1 billion — and Republicans are pushing hard to get the taxpayers to foot the bill.

“In case this isn’t obvious,” MS NOW reported on Tuesday, “the White House boasted last summer that the price tag for the ballroom would be $200 million, and every penny would come from private donations. By October, the price tag had grown to $250 million. Soon after, it was $300 million. Late last year, it was up to $400 million — though, again, the official line was that American taxpayers wouldn’t be on the hook for the costs at all, even as the White House went out of its way to hide the identities of donors.”

Then the calculus changed entirely.

Late last month, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was among the first Republicans to float the idea of taxpayers funding the ballroom, announcing legislation to foot the bill — to the tune of $400 million. The status of that bill is unclear, and it may not have been filed yet.

Trump used the alleged assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to insist that presidents need a safe space, and claimed that having a “Militarily Top Secret Ballroom” with “every highest level security feature there is” would have prevented the attack.

On Monday, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) announced that the ballroom project expenditure would become part of a reconciliation bill — that’s when it appears the overall price tag jumped to at least $1 billion.

The Daily Beast reports that Grassley’s reconciliation package earmarks the $1 billion for “security adjustments and upgrades” linked to the ballroom project, including “above-ground and below-ground security features” of the East Wing Modernization Project.

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As The Daily Beast suggests, it appears the $1 billion price tag is technically not for the above-ground ballroom itself, but for the security upgrades above and below ground that Trump has publicly touted.

“In Mr. Trump’s telling,” The New York Times reported last month, “the bunker will have bomb shelters and ‘very major medical facilities,’ including a hospital. It will have the latest secure communication methods and defenses against bioweapons.”

Republicans are split on the ballroom being funded by taxpayers, NBC News has reported, but most Democrats are opposed.

Meanwhile, Senator Grassley’s decision to include the $1 billion cost in a reconciliation package brings with it a flaw that could kill the project — or become fodder for political ads Democrats may want to run.

“Just flagging that now everyone gets an up or down vote on the ballroom!” U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) wrote on Tuesday.

“Under budget reconciliation,” Bloomberg’s Steven Dennis explained, “a motion to strike is always in order. So, yes, Democrats can force a vote striking funding for Trump’s ballroom.”

As of late last year, $350 million in private donations for the ballroom have been raised. The president has not indicated if those funds will be used, held, or returned to their respective donors.

Americans already oppose the ballroom by a two-to-one margin — before they were asked to pay for it. By folding the $1 billion into a reconciliation package, Republicans handed Democrats the right to force a floor vote. Trump’s team promised the ballroom wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime. Now every senator will have to say whether they agree.

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After a policy meeting Monday, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to launch a spirited campaign amplifying dozens of posts backing his proposed $400 million White House ballroom — a project Republicans now want to be funded by taxpayers, not by the private donations he promised before demolishing the East Wing months ago.

Among those whose remarks were screenshotted and reposted were acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Democratic U.S. Senator John Fetterman, Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul, Republican U.S. Senator Katie Britt, social media influencer Libs of TikTok, and social media users “MAGA Kitty” and “Comfortably Smug.”

“We were there front and center,” wrote Senator Fetterman, apparently referring to the alleged assassination attempt during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “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.”

“I’m dropping a bill tomorrow. Let’s build the Ballroom,” wrote Senator Paul.

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“It’s time for the Democrats to show up and start acting like AMERICANS,” wrote U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL). “STOP defunding DHS. STOP blocking the White House ballroom. STOP elevating people who call for political violence. Stop letting TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME guide every single decision you make. Enough is enough!”

“I’m working with my team to draft legislation ensuring the White House Ballroom is completed,” U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said. “I don’t believe congressional approval is required for the project, but if it’ll keep activist judges on the sideline, so be it. More to come this week.”

“Ballroom time!” exclaimed MAGA Kitty.

But most Americans are opposed to the ballroom project.

“Americans reject President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom by a 2-to-1 margin, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll,” the Post reported last week, “and they appear largely unmoved by the intensified calls from the president and his allies in Congress to allow the project to go forward.”

READ MORE: ‘Everybody Is Fighting’: Republicans Fear GOP ‘Dysfunction’ Will Blow the Midterms

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There are several “legally persuasive” reasons to say that former FBI Director James Comey is innocent of charges related to his widely-discussed “86 47” post, argues The Bulwark‘s Jonathan V. Last. But there is only one that matters.

Calling the prosecution a “travesty,” Last says it is important to identify several factors that some have proposed.

“Comey is not innocent because Republicans have spoken the same way about Democrats. His defense is not whataboutism,” writes Last.

“Comey is not innocent because he made a death threat and then claimed to just be joking. His defense is not ‘just kidding,'” he adds. And “Comey is not innocent because he was merely calling for metaphorical violence against the president. His defense is not the First Amendment.”

But Comey is “legally and morally innocent,” posits Last.

Why?

Because, “there is no rational universe in which the phrase ’86 47’ can be taken to mean anything other than a call to retire or get rid of President Trump,” he says. “There is no rational universe in which it is associated—even in an arcane or euphemistic way—with violence of any sort.”

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Last argues that it would be “bad” had Comey made “allusions to violence,” even if it were not unlawful. “People like Comey,” he says, a former FBI director and officer of the court, have a “civic obligation” to not use violent rhetoric or “speak loosely about encouraging violence,” even if they are within their legal rights to do so.

But Last makes clear — as have others — that what Comey did was use a term, “86” that “comes from the hospitality industry and refers to being out of something—a dish, a beer, wine, breadsticks.”

He suggests that unless the Trump DOJ can come up with “some extremely important facts not in evidence” then what the former FBI chief did was legal, “but also well within the bounds of wisdom and civility.”

Last concludes that Comey “is entirely innocent—legally, morally, and prudentially,” and therefore, the prosecution of Comey is “manifestly totalitarian.”

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if others who in some way have promoted the “86 47” phrase would also be prosecuted.

“The ’86 47′ message, Mr. Blanche said, is ‘posted constantly — that phrase is used constantly.'”

“Every one of those statements do not result in indictments,” Blanche said.

But he also argued that “other evidence” has been collected, “which he said he could not describe.”

READ MORE: ‘Everybody Is Fighting’: Republicans Fear GOP ‘Dysfunction’ Will Blow the Midterms

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