Sens. Graham and Britt hold news conference on Trump's White House ballroom construction

[0:00] fix it. That problem is it's very difficult to have a bunch of important [0:06] people in the same place unless it's really, really secure. The times in which [0:12] we live are unusual. I've been up here for a while now. I've never felt the [0:18] sense of threat that exists today. There's so much out there. There's so [0:23] many disturbed people that are just one click away from feeling like they've got [0:28] to fix America by killing somebody. And when the president, the vice president, [0:34] the speaker of the house, most of the cabinet meets at the same time, those [0:40] should be seldom but very secure. And the ballroom. Many people I think originally [0:47] saw it as a vanity project that President Trump wanted to build this grand ballroom [0:53] as a kind of a vanity project. I don't see it that way and I don't think I ever did. [0:58] A meeting space that is ultimately that is secured on the White House grounds that [1:06] would allow people to do what they did at the Hilton Hotel is necessary. I'm convinced [1:13] if there had been a presidential ballroom adjacent to the White House, the guy would [1:19] never gotten in. You had an event with the line of succession in a ballroom where a [1:29] thousand people were in a hotel above it. This guy apparently checked in the night [1:34] before and was able to get shotguns and pistols and knives and made a rush for the [1:40] ballroom door and thank God he didn't make it. I want to thank the Secret Service and [1:46] all who stopped him. But if this is not a wake-up call, what would be? So here's what [1:51] we're going to do. We're going to introduce legislation that would authorize [1:56] $400 million to be spent to build the presidential ballroom. Underneath there will be a lot of military [2:05] stuff. There will be a Secret Service annex and we've paid for it by offsetting it with [2:13] custom fees, but the estimate is $332 million. We're going to do $400 million because I think [2:20] it's probably going to take more. Private donations can be used, but I think they should be used for [2:25] buying China and stuff like that. Underneath this ballroom will be infrastructure that is [2:32] national security centric. The ballroom itself will avoid the dilemma of having to leave the [2:38] White House grounds with future presidents and this presidents to go downtown and replace this [2:43] less secure. President Trump said to me this morning, excuse me, yesterday, we need the ballroom [2:52] not just for me but for future presidents. He literally could have left his bedroom, walked out [2:59] the back of the White House and been at the ballroom. That's what needs to happen when you have 1,000 or 2,000 [3:06] people gathered in a day's environment. And the sooner we get the ballroom built, the more hardened it is, [3:15] the better for the country. So I hope and pray that most people in the Senate after Saturday night [3:24] will support this bill. This is not about Trump. It's about the presidency of the United States. [3:30] It's about the person who occupies that office not being put at risk if they choose to go off campus. [3:37] And the Washington Press Correspondent Association should be very proud of the fact that so many [3:47] people wanted to come and participate at the highest level of government. Literally, you had the entire [3:53] line of succession in one place. You had a large amount of cabinet members. Only God knows what would [4:00] have happened if he'd gotten in the room. What if it had been three? What if it had been five? I honestly [4:08] believe the likelihood of that happening, if we had a secure facility attached to the White House, [4:15] would go down exponentially. So we're reacting to a problem that's been identified. And if you had [4:23] any doubt, it was a problem Saturday should resolve all doubt. So we're going to press ahead. I'm going [4:30] to ask for Senator Thune to expedite this bill. Senator Fetterman's on board. And I'd like to vote as soon [4:37] as possible to accelerate what America needs, a secure facility for the president and others [4:43] to meet in, to have a good time, to enjoy themselves without putting the nation at risk. [4:51] We don't have that. We're about to obtain it. And the ballroom is much more than just a place to [4:57] entertain. There'll be infrastructure around it vital to our national security. And that's why we've [5:02] done $400 million. Senator Britt. Thank you, Senator Graham. Look, this weekend, a third assassination [5:11] attempt on President Trump is truly unconscionable. When you're thinking about where we are as a nation [5:19] and what it means going forward, we have to be smarter, we have to be more vigilant, and we have [5:24] to be more prepared. Being more prepared means having a facility like this ballroom, where we can have [5:31] secure location for the president of the United States, amongst other cabinet officials, to gather [5:37] and to be together. Look, I don't understand why it is that every idea, it doesn't matter if on its [5:48] face is good or not, Democrats choose to oppose it if it has anything to do with Donald Trump. If Donald [5:56] Trump comes up with it, then it must be a bad idea. And inherent in them at this very moment is they [6:01] have to object to it. Look, this isn't even about him. This will not be done until the end of his [6:09] term. This is about future presidents. This is about our nation having a place to gather where the [6:16] president of the United States of America can be a part of it. This is about presidents both now and [6:23] in the future. And I hope my Democratic colleagues will come to their senses. Unfortunately, we continue [6:29] to see them buy into the fact that they can't do anything with Republicans right now because it will [6:34] be seen as an advancement of Donald Trump's agenda. This is an advancement for America. It's a great [6:40] idea by our president that we need to see through. I mean, when you think about what's happening right [6:45] now, when you think about the litigation, the woman who was given standing, she was given standing [6:50] actually because of aesthetic injury because it disturbed her morning walk to walk past the [6:58] ballroom. I mean, ridiculous, guys. President Trump was smart to ask for this. And now is the time for [7:07] us to step up and actually move it forward. And in addition to this, I hope this is a wake-up call [7:11] about DHS funding. I mean, y'all were 72 days without a department funded. Many of you know this, [7:19] and some of you have brought light to it. But when you're looking at DHS funding and looking at when [7:26] we run out of money, when we can stop paying people, you know that that time is coming. I think [7:33] it is absolutely ridiculous that we will have members of Congress that are going to fly off to [7:39] other nations while our homeland security is unfunded. We have a real obligation both to the people of [7:46] this country, to have a secure border and to have safe streets, and also to the people who stepped [7:51] up, raised their hand to serve our nation and the Department of Homeland Security, to keep Americans [7:57] safe, to actually ensure that they get a paycheck. You think about the men and women of the Secret [8:02] Service. You think about the mission of the Secret Service. It has gone unfunded for 72 days, [8:07] and it is absolutely ridiculous. Now is the time to act. I am hopeful, and you will hear more of this [8:15] from Senator Schmidt. But now is the time for Democrats to step forward and to figure out what [8:22] a pathway forward looks like, and to realize we have to put the good of the nation front and center. [8:29] And whether it is this ballroom or it is funding DHS, now is the time to act. Senator Schmidt. [8:35] Thank you. And I stand with my colleagues to support this facility. For the President of the United [8:42] States to be able to gather with other world leaders as cabinet in a safe and secure place, [8:45] this is – I actually can't believe we're having to even talk or debate about this. [8:49] Other presidents have talked about it, but again, I think it's a symptom of Trump [8:52] derangement syndrome that the Democrats have balked at this. Secondly, I agree with Senator [8:57] Britt. This DHS funding thing is just – I mean, it's a scandal. In any other time and place, [9:03] this would be a total scandal, but here we are. And we're going to solve it one way or another, [9:08] through reconciliation or otherwise. But I want – I just – I think it's worth kind of stepping [9:14] back for just a moment. President Trump, there have been attempts on his life now three times [9:20] in the last two years. He came within an inch of his life in Butler at his own golf course. [9:28] Senator Graham and I played with the President there. On a par-3 course, he's a whole way – if it [9:33] wasn't for a Secret Service agent spotting the glistening of the sun off the barrel of a rifle that [9:38] just happened to come across the fence line, that assassination would have been televised on a [9:44] GoPro. And then this past Saturday. I think the left has a real assassination culture problem right [9:56] now. And we better start talking about it, and we better start resolving it. The Luigi left here, [10:02] this is serious business. And I don't see my Democrat colleagues trying to tone it down. [10:12] Hakeem Jeffries, literally within the last hour, just said he stands by his comments for, quote, [10:17] maximum warfare everywhere all the time in this kind of phony tough guy thing he's trying to pull off [10:24] to take the House majority. It looks ridiculous. And that's not what we need right now, but I think [10:29] we have to be clear about what's happening. 25% of those who describe themselves as very liberal [10:37] believe political violence is legitimate compared to 3% of people who identify as very conservative. [10:43] That's 3% too many. But let's not pretend it's the same thing. Let's also not pretend that it's not a [10:49] serious problem that 55% of those on the left believe it is at least somewhat justified to [10:57] assassinate President Trump. This is not a both sides thing. And I know it's going to be characterized. [11:05] This is a problem uniquely on the left right now. The man who tried to kill Republican congressmen at [11:11] the congressional baseball practice, nearly killing Steve Scalise, that was left wing violence. Burned down [11:17] cities in the Summer of Love and the George Floyd riots, left wing violence. The Wakisha Christmas [11:22] Parade massacre, left wing violence. The Lee Zeldin stabbing attempt, left wing violence. The [11:26] Covenant school shooting in Nashville, left wing violence. The Butler, Pennsylvania Trump assassination [11:32] attempt, left wing violence. The Trump International West Palm assassination attempt, left wing violence. [11:36] The Abundant Life Christian School shooting, left wing violence. The United Healthcare CEO murder, [11:42] left wing violence. Tesla's burned, keys, dan keyed and damaged, left wing violence. The murders at the [11:49] Israeli embassy, left wing violence. The Minneapolis Catholic school shooting, left wing violence. [11:54] The anti-white Charlotte, North Carolina stabbing, left wing violence. The attempted Utah News State [12:00] firebombing, left wing violence. The assassination of Charlie Kirk, left wing violence. ICE facilities [12:05] firebombed, left wing violence. A 1300% increase in attacks on ICE agents, left wing violence. And now a [12:14] third attempt on President Trump's life. I think there needs to be full accounting of whether or not [12:20] the NGO network had anything to do with this. But I will tell you in this manifesto, the language used [12:26] by this guy sounds like something you'd hear from a pundit on MSNBC every single night. We've heard years [12:33] of people, right wing fascists, extreme mega Republicans, Nazis, Hitler. Knock it off. Stop [12:44] trying to kill our president. And I would hope that these so-called Democrat leaders could find it in [12:53] their souls to actually be explicit about it. Not doubling down like Hakeem Jeffries just did in the [13:01] last hour. Questions? [13:05] ...against reevaluating some of the security around the Correspondence Center. But that is a private [13:12] event at a private location from a private organization. It's not held by the White House. [13:17] And it had twice as many guests as this proposed ballroom would hold. So why do you find it [13:21] appropriate to link these two events so closely? Well, I find it appropriate if you're going to have [13:25] the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the [13:30] House, and half the Cabinet in a room, the room matters. And the idea that you [13:37] can't do this in the ballroom will be up to the Correspondence Association. It is insane to do [13:43] this again. Anybody who suggests that we have an event like this in the times in which we live in a [13:50] facility like Hilton, that's crazy. We're going to have to accommodate the times in which we live. And [13:58] Eric, you nailed it. There are people out there that are nuts being driven to take up. Violence is an [14:06] acceptable outcome in too many people's opinion. So no, we're going to build this facility. And I [14:14] would suggest to the next President, don't go to the Hilton. Don't do an event at the Hilton or any [14:22] other facility outside the White House, given the times in which we live. The problem is you don't have [14:28] a choice. We're going to give people that choice. And if you want to vote no, vote no. I want you to go [14:35] home and tell the American people why you take off the table an option to have a thousand or two people [14:42] come to the White House grounds, the safest place we can find, to enjoy themselves. And underneath, [14:49] there will be things that are not about enjoyment but about national security. There will be a [14:54] Social Security – a Secret Service annex to it. So the need is real. [14:59] Senator Graham, Senator Britt, can you talk about how the DHS funding shutdown is affecting Secret [15:07] Service and protection of President Trump? And given the threats facing the President, [15:11] should the House pick up and pass this Senate-passed bill to fund as much of DHS as possible? [15:17] I'd like to get it funded. I'd like to do reconciliation for ICE and Border Patrol. The bottom [15:24] line here is, yes. What's it like? I don't know. What's it like to go to work and not get paid? I don't [15:29] think it's a pleasant experience. So the idea that we're not funding the Secret Service is pretty [15:37] astonishing when you think about it. But the Border Patrol too. What about ICE? I think ICE should be [15:44] funded. Don't you think the Border Patrol should be funded? I mean, I think all of it should be funded. [15:49] So yes, I hope the House will pass the Senate bill and we'll do reconciliation. [15:53] Yeah. I mean, you think about this. I mean, you've got ICE. You've got CBP. I mean, [15:59] we've heard a number of Americans that have lost their lives on the hands of illegal aliens and then [16:05] you have actual Democrats who are refusing to fund those things. It's mind-boggling. You've got CISA [16:14] at a time where we know that that is, you know, we have heightened security concerns here on our [16:21] interior from what's happening in the Middle East and then also what we're seeing right here today. [16:25] You know, you've got TSA, which every American has seen right there front and center. You've got [16:31] Coast Guard that literally protects our homeland. I mean, you've got all kinds of things and Secret [16:38] Service being chief among those. I mean, for 72 days they have gone without their mission being funded. [16:43] That's a problem. It's absolutely a problem. When you look at the financial insecurity of these [16:48] individuals, can you imagine all of you who are writing and have a responsibility obviously to tell [16:54] this story to the American people if for half of this fiscal year you hadn't received a paycheck? [16:59] Half. I think it is ridiculous that people are planning to walk out of here on Thursday or Friday [17:06] of this week, some of which are going to fly on taxpayer dimes to another country. Those flights should [17:12] be grounded. We should be here. We should figure this out. These people should get a paycheck. This mission [17:19] should be funded. You look at what Secretary Mullen inherited. I mean, he inherited an entire department [17:25] with his hands tied behind his back. He's doing a remarkable job, and I know Mark Wayne will continue [17:30] to meet the challenge in front of him. But guys, the very least we can do is actually fund the mission [17:36] that is before us. We saw the importance of that this weekend. I think people need to get it together. [17:42] We need to make this happen, and we need to make it happen this week. [17:45] Let me tie – real quick, let me tie one electrical cord to the question to what we're talking about today. [17:50] Why are we here? The Democrats have used rhetoric, referring to ICE agents as the Gestapo, [17:57] Trump's secret police. They can't help themselves. This is a real sickness. And what we're saying is [18:05] this has to be addressed. At a minimum, we have to have a safe place to protect the President of the [18:09] United States and the Cabinet officials if they want to gather, or there's a state dinner, or a crowd [18:13] more than like 100 people. But this is now, in order to appease the more radicalized base, [18:21] the language that comes out on the Senate floor – I'm not talking about on like Morning Joe – like [18:27] on the Senate floor. You guys are there, you hear this. This is well beyond what has been acceptable [18:35] forever, and we're at where we're at. And you all remember, this stuff was operating. [18:41] I mean, ICE and CBP are operating. And the fact that Democrats didn't sit down until 48 days into [18:48] the shutdown means that they could care nothing about the guardrails. To Senator Schmidt's point, [18:52] it was everything about the political issue. They didn't want to take a vote for ICE. I mean, [18:57] it's insane where we are, and it's got to stop. [18:59] I would like to take it to the floor and see if we can – again, it's supposed to be built in 28. [19:22] It's actually going to benefit future presidents more than President Trump. So I don't know. I'd [19:33] like to – I want to get it done. I want to get it done yesterday. And I'd like to do it as a [19:40] freestanding bill with an offset. Let's give it a chance. And if we fail, we'll have to go to Plan B. [19:55] I disagree with them. We're going to – vote no. Vote no. Just vote no. This is what I like about voting. [20:01] If you don't think $400 million of taxpayer money is a good investment to create a secure facility at [20:07] the White House where the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Cabinet, and people [20:12] from the public can come and, you know, have a meal and gather without what happens Saturday, then I [20:20] disagree. This is the number one job of the federal government is national security. The number one [20:26] job of national security, I think, would be to protect the commander-in-chief and to have [20:31] infrastructure under the ballroom that is very national security-centric. So I don't think – just [20:38] vote no. That's all I ask you to do is vote. I don't care how you vote. I want to vote. I want to see [20:44] where is America on this. I'll bet you 90 percent of the people would love to have a better facility [20:51] than the Hilton Hotel to make sure this crap never happens again. I can't tell you what to say on the [20:57] Senate floor, but I've never seen it like this. There are people out there just one click away from [21:02] picking up a gun or something else and trying to make America better by killing. You don't make America [21:09] great by killing people you don't like. That's not how you make America great. How do you make America [21:15] great? Go to the ballot box and beat the people you don't like. Engage in political discourse. [21:22] Organize. Give money. Knock on doors. Beat them at the election, at the ballot box. That's what we [21:30] need to get back to. This is not a third world country. This is not a country where you change hands [21:37] by bullets. You change hands by ballots. And we want to secure those ballots. [21:41] Can I make one quick? And I think part of the genius of Senator Graham's bill is [21:47] this actually allows a mechanism which doesn't exist in current law for those private donations [21:53] to be deployed for this purpose. And also as far as any other dollars that could be used if that's [21:58] not enough, it's an extension of user fees at national parks. So that's the structure. [22:03] We're all paying for it. I'm going to get it done. I'm ruling in going through [22:12] the normal process. I'll be, well, I guess I'll be surprised. If we can't do this now, [22:19] I mean, like what the hell happened to your Congress up here? But if it doesn't work, [22:24] I'm for doing it any way we can. Oh, I've been talking to them all day. They support the bill. [22:40] What's that? Oh, yeah. Yeah. The president was trying to do it with private donations. Yeah. Right. [22:51] Well, now I think it's not, it's not a private donation event. It's a national security event. Yeah. [23:00] I think they would, I think they would love to do that. I welcome a hearing. Okay. Have a hearing, [23:12] you know, whatever committee, have a hearing. Should we do my bill? Should we do our bill? [23:17] If you want to do that, I mean, that's fine with me. Yeah. I mean, I think American people saw this [23:22] weekend why we need this. They support the bill. Right. They absolutely support the bill, [23:27] but, but we do too. Yeah. I mean, we need this. Yeah. Yeah. You said Senator Fetterman is on board. [23:32] Yes. How close are you to getting more democratic support? I, well, I really, [23:36] in their defense, I haven't asked them. I'm trying to jumpstart the conversation. I've talked to a few [23:42] of them just out in the hall. They'll rattle like if some of them were there, they'll rattle like the [23:46] rest of us. And I'll, you know, I'll be surprised and, but you know, maybe, maybe not that we can't [23:53] get the, if we can't get this done, then everything that's been said here is true on steroids. Yeah. [24:04] Yeah. Well, I think that's a good question. Saturday proved the point. You know, everybody [24:14] felt this is Trump making a monument to Trump, right? This is a vanity project. How many times have [24:21] you talked to him about this? Like every time it's important all the time, like how you doing? [24:27] Where's the ballroom? How you playing? I don't know. I'd play better if you built the ballroom. [24:34] It's all the time. It's like he understands what's missing as a nation. We got a missing piece of the [24:43] puzzle. The King's coming, right? I would also say too, that there had been a favorable decision [24:50] previously. There has been recently within the last like week or so an unfavorable ruling. The court [24:56] battle is not over. Yeah. I would still argue that the president has the authority to do this [25:00] on the White House grounds from a legal perspective. Yeah. But given what happened this weekend, [25:04] it certainly renews the focus. Yeah. Yes. [25:07] I mean, your suggestion that the White House future present at this scale, presidents have, [25:19] of both parties, complained about their inability to leave the protective bubble. Are you concerned that this [25:25] I'm concerned that any, well, here's what I'm concerned about. I'm concerned that if we do this [25:32] again at the Hilton, we'll be idiots. And I can't think of a better place in town to do it. [25:38] And the reality we face is when you have that many people, like the State of the Union, you've got [25:44] everybody here, but it's on the Capitol grounds. When you have the entire line of succession in the [25:50] world in which we live, you're going to have to make some choices. You're going to have to make choices, [25:55] security versus access. That's the times in which we live. I wish we didn't have to make those [26:01] choices. I wish we could go back to a more, more normal time, but I don't see that happening anytime [26:08] soon. And I think this president more than, I mean, certainly in my lifetime is the most accessible [26:13] president. I mean, you guys see it. I mean, he's willing to answer questions at any time, anywhere. [26:19] Senator Graham and I have spent a lot of time on the campaign trail or whatever at these arenas [26:23] where there's 30,000 people there and there's another 30,000 outside. I think the idea is if he [26:28] headed his way, he'd be walking around the streets talking to people at a McDonald's or, [26:34] you know, whatever. But unfortunately, what we've seen is, I mean, three real assassination [26:41] attempts in under two years, there are security issues. Now, I still think he's going to be very [26:47] active. He's going to be around. But as far as like hosting a state dinner or doing something in [26:52] Washington, D.C., where, as Senator Graham mentioned, where there are people who've checked [26:57] in days before upstairs, you know, thankfully, this didn't become a much more tragic situation, [27:08] but the conditions were ripe for that. And so what we're saying is there's a better way to do it. [27:13] There's private funding that's been offered. This is a mechanism for it to use it. And if that doesn't, [27:18] there's a backstop of some of the user fees that we'd be extending in the legislation. [27:21] Thank you.