Demolition of a section of the East Wing of the White House, during construction on the new ballroom extension of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025.
Tech giant Alphabet is contributing $22 million to help build the White House ballroom under a legal settlement reached with President Donald Trump last month over his being banned from the company's YouTube platform after the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by his supporters.
Images showing the demolition of part of the White House's East Wing to prepare for building the ballroom triggered public anger this week.
The demolition work has raised questions about who is footing the bill for the planned $250 million, 90,000 square-foot building.
The Google parent Alphabet's contribution in the form of the settlement, which was recorded in Oakland, California, federal court, represents nearly 10% of the estimated construction costs.
The settlement notes that the $22 million will be contributed on Trump's behalf "to the Trust for the National Mall, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity dedicated to restoring, preserving, and elevating the National Mall, to support the construction of the White House State Ballroom."
Trump, who in July promised that the East Wing's structure would not be touched to build the ballroom, has promised that American taxpayers will not pay for the ballroom.
Trump has said that he and private donors will cover the costs.
"The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly," the president said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social Monday.
But it is still unclear who all the other contributors are and how much they have agreed to pay for the ballroom's construction.
Trump chose McCrery Architects to design the ballroom. The construction team is led by Clark Construction and the engineering team is headed by AECOM, according to a White House statement from July.