Digging into Trump’s alleged White House bunker plans

As images circulated online in October 2025 of the demolished White House East Wing, which was removed to make way for a multimillion-dollar “golden ballroom,” a rumor spread that Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration also was secretly building or renovating a bunker the new ballroom would sit atop.

The claim, which made its rounds on multiple platforms (archived), alleged Trump would use the “upgraded” bunker to hide from protesters (archived) or even as a “fortress” from which to serve a third presidential term (archived). In a YouTube video (archived), Ben Meiselas of the self-described “pro-democracy” media company MeidasTouch claimed (at 0:35): 

There’s much more than meets the surface in Donald Trump tearing down the East Wing of the White House to make way for a golden ballroom, which he says he’s now raised $350 million of funds from private individuals and corporations to build that golden ballroom. A lot of it has to do, as well, with the fact that they’re renovating the bunker underneath.

It’s true that there is a bunker — also known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center — under what used to be the East Wing; former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration oversaw its construction as a precautionary measure during World War II. Presidents who have used the bombproof shelter have included George W. Bush following the Sept. 11 attacks and Trump during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.

The claim that Trump’s administration was “upgrading” the bunker in October 2025 stemmed from a line in an Oct. 22 CBS News report (archived) that read:

The bunker under the East Wing will also be upgraded, sources told CBS News. The White House Military Office is handling the renovation of the bunker, which is known as the President’s Emergency Operations Center.

CBS did not divulge the identities of its sources or their credentials; therefore, Snopes was unable to corroborate the reported comments. We reached out to the White House and the Department of Defense seeking comment as well as information regarding the funding of the alleged work, and did not immediately receive a response. We will update this story if we do.

When a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during an Oct. 23 news conference whether the private, donor-based financing of the new ballroom would include the cost for upgrading the bunker, Leavitt did not explicitly confirm or deny that the bunker was undergoing an upgrade. She said, “Like any security enhancements that are made on the White House grounds, those will be made and maintained by United States Secret Service.”

The Secret Service said in an email that it “is responsible for the security and protection of White House complex facilities, employees and visitors. Due to the sensitive nature of these operations, we cannot confirm or discuss specific rooms, locations or security procedures at the White House.”

Leavitt’s full interaction with the reporter can be seen in the video below (beginning at 12:37):

According to The Washington Post, a White House spokesman speaking anonymously said the “entirety” of the East Wing would eventually be “modernized and rebuilt.” It was unclear whether this included the underground bunker.

In short, there was no primary evidence detailing whether — or to what degree — the Trump administration was building a new bunker under the East Wing or renovating the existing bunker. 

As one reporter pointed out during the Oct. 23 news conference, the White House had not, as of this writing, submitted plans to the National Capital Planning Commission — the body responsible for approving construction plans to the White House. This is because, as of this writing, the project has reportedly only involved demolition, not construction. On Oct. 21, The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States published an open letter calling for a pause of demolition “until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes.”

In sum, Leavitt did not explicitly confirm or deny the claim during the news conference, but anonymous sources told CBS and The Washington Post that the bunker would be upgraded and the “entirety” of the East Wing would eventually be “modernized and rebuilt.”

Sources

Ahn, Ashley. ‘From the Roosevelts to the Kennedys: A Look Back at the White House East Wing’. The New York Times, 22 Oct. 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/us/politics/east-wing-white-house.html.

Rascouët-Paz, Anna. ‘Trump Demolished Entire White House East Wing?’ Snopes, 23 Oct. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-east-wing-white-house/.

‘Trump Took Shelter in White House Bunker as Protests Raged’. AP News, 1 Jun. 2020, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-george-floyd-politics-a2326518da6b25b4509bef1ec85f5d7f.

Washington, Weijia Jiang Senior White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang is the senior White House correspondent for CBS News based in, et al. Trump Administration Plans to Demolish White House’s Entire East Wing as Ballroom Cost Grows to $300 Million – CBS News. 22 Oct. 2025, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/demolish-white-house-east-wing-ballroom-trump-cost/.

‘WATCH: White House Defends Ballroom Project Price Tag Rising to $300 Million’. PBS News, 23 Oct. 2025, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-white-house-holds-news-briefing-as-trump-pardons-founder-of-crypto-exchange-binance.

– YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kicOml9pkfc. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.

– YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKQCSuN8XmY. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.