President Trump dined with the wealthy donors who have made his dream of the new $250 million ballroom a reality at the White House.

The White House announced in July that the White House State Ballroom “will be a much-needed and exquisite addition” totaling 90,000 square feet with a capacity of 650 people. Construction began last month.

The cost is estimated upwards of $200 million. Mr. Trump thanked the attendees for their contributions.

“For all those years, they wanted it, and now they’re going to get it, and because of you, they’re going to get it. And me too, we’re all in this together,” he said of the ballroom.

“I have so many friends, and so many of you have been really, really generous. I mean, a couple of you … here saying, ‘Sir, would $25 million be appropriate?’ I said, ‘I’ll take it,’” he said.

He called the attendees “legends.”

An invitation to the dinner, obtained by the Wall Street Journal, said the dinner will help  “Establish the Magnificent White House Ballroom.”

Guests include representatives from companies like Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alphabet’s Google, Apple, Amazon.com and Palantir Technologies.

Also attending were wealthy individuals and families Harold Hamm, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, among others, according to the Journal.

Funds raised ahead of the dinner will go to the Trust for the National Mall, the non-profit philanthropic partner of the National Park Service.

A lawsuit settled between YouTube and Mr. Trump resulted in $22 million that went into the trust for the ballroom.

He showed the dinner attendees models for a triumphal arch that he wants to put up over a traffic roundabout in honor of next year’s 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. 

Photos have been circulating the internet of the arch after the model was spotted on the president’s desk last week.

The president said the design features four sides of bulletproof glass, and will feature the “totally appropriate” color, window shapes, moldings and decorations.

“We did something that was really appropriate to the White House,” he said of the design. “We didn’t want to dwarf anything. We didn’t want to make it so that it’s inappropriate.”

“To me, there’s nothing like the White House,” he said.

The president said leftover money from the ballroom project will be used for another project, like the arch.

Mr. Trump has envisioned a ballroom for the White House for years, saying the famous house on Pennsylvania Avenue needed it to hold state dinners and foreign dignitaries. He even offered to fund the ballroom construction back in 2010 during the Obama administration, but the idea was turned down.

“I said, if I make it back, I want to build a ballroom for the country, really. Because this is really – they call it the people’s house,” he said. “It’s the country’s house.”

The president also spoke about other changes he made to the White House, including changing a bathroom in the Lincoln Bedroom and redoing the Palm Room, which connects the front of the White House to the back near the Rose Garden. 

The president also redid the Rose Garden by paving it over and adding tables with umbrellas.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.