Democrat Official Makes Disturbing Trump Ballroom Threat

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told a crowd Tuesday he wants a piece of the White House ballroom now under construction — after, in his words, “we all blow it up.”

Krasner spoke at the 24th annual slavery commemoration at the President’s House site on Independence Mall. The event centered on an exhibit about enslaved people tied to the original presidential residence in Philadelphia.

City officials have been fighting over interpretive panels at the site after federal changes under an executive order on historical exhibits.

Krasner contrasted the Philadelphia memorial with projects in Washington. “But let me tell you what will not be here,” he said. “There will not be a ballroom. There will not be a ballroom. There will not be a Kennedy Center renamed for a fool. That will not be happening.”

He then looked ahead 10 or 15 years. “We are all going to be sitting here with smiles on our faces because we, thanks to Michael, and all of you will have won. They will have lost.”

“And I’m going to have a paper weight sitting on my desk. You know what that paper weight’s going to be? It’s going to be a piece of the ballroom after we all blow it up. That’s what it’s going to be.”

He added a caveat: “In an official official ceremony. Just so we’re clear, in an official ceremony, we’re going to blow it up and we’re going to get the taxpayers their money back by selling all the pieces as paper weights and I will have one on my desk.”

He later told the audience they would get a chance to have one too.

Philly DA Larry Krasner said this yesterday…

“I’m going to have a paperweight sitting on my desk… It’s going to be a piece of the ballroom after we all blow it up.”

A sitting district attorney openly fantasizing about blowing up a structure on the White House grounds! pic.twitter.com/NQPw7yEQOY

— Brandon (@LibOrNormal) August 26, 2026

The ballroom is being built on the former East Wing site, demolished in 2025, with a target around 2028. Cost estimates cited in coverage run about $400 million. The Trump administration has said roughly $200 million in private donations has been spent or committed.

Trump has argued the addition is needed to host dignitaries indoors after security problems with outdoor events.

A sitting prosecutor describing the demolition of a White House structure — even as a future “ceremony” — is the line that traveled.