Code Breaker

No, not that kind of code breaker, but rather building code. It seems like there is a big question: Does the new ballroom meet code, and has it been inspected by the National Park Service for electrical, plumbing, and structure?

‘I am the code’: Trump clashed with ballroom architect over safety issues

James McCrery II resigned in October after warning that the president was insisting on designs that violated fire and safety codes.

The Washington Post

By Sarah Blaskey and Jonathan O'Connell

Sept 23, 2026

James McCrery II resigned in October after warning that the president was insisting on designs that violated fire and safety codes.

In the weeks leading up to his resignation last year, the first architect on the White House ballroom clashed with President Donald Trump over design features that the architect believed violated building safety codes, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions and corroborating documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

Trump brushed off McCrery’s concerns, they said, and the president countered that no building codes apply to White House construction. “I am the code,” Trump said. That episode, as described by the people familiar with the matter, offers new insight into Trump’s priorities for the ballroom at a time when he is flexing executive power to fast-track construction projects across the nation’s capital.

The interviews and documents obtained by The Post — including early ballroom designs and images Trump appeared to have marked up with his trademark black-ink Sharpie — also show how deeply involved the president has been in the details of the project.

According to ChatGPT there are questions about:

According to the Post’s documents and interviews:

• Main emergency egress: The early design did not allow the majority of occupants to exit quickly enough through the principal entrance, which the architect said conflicted with fire-safety requirements.
• Secondary exits: The alternative emergency escape routes were considered inadequate.
• Kitchen/fire separation: The design provided insufficient protection against a fire in the kitchen spreading rapidly to the ballroom above.
• Restrooms/plumbing: The proposed number of toilets was inadequate for the building's maximum occupancy. One early plan had only seven women's stalls. The Post says there was little room to add additional facilities because the ballroom consumed most of the footprint. (The Washington Post)
• Overall “life safety”: White House meeting notes from September 2025 specifically recorded “Life safety — big concern.” A November note said, “Life safety — needs POTUS buy in.” The Post reports that discussions about code and life-safety issues continued for months after the original architect left. (Nvdium)

Is this another of Trump's follies?

Nydium goes on to report that:

White House renovations and construction are typically handled by federal agencies required by law to comply with nationally recognized building safety standards to the “maximum extent feasible,” unless doing so would present a national security risk.

But Trump’s White House construction projects are being routed through the Executive Residence, a tiny office that is not a federal agency and is therefore exempt from rules governing agencies. The District of Columbia government has no jurisdiction to enforce local building codes on federal property.

The contractors hired to design and build the ballroom are responsible for adhering to safety standards as they work nearly round-the-clock to meet Trump’s ambitious deadlines, according to experts. Discussions about the life-safety deficiencies in the ballroom’s design continued for months after McCrery resigned, according to White House records.

It is not clear from the records reviewed by The Post whether the safety issues he identified have been resolved in more recent designs by Shalom Baranes Associates, the architecture firm that replaced McCrery’s firm late last year. Shalom Baranes Associates declined to comment. When Post reporters visited McCrery’s office this month, he asked them to leave and not contact him again.

Does this give you a warm, fuzzy feeling? How about this?

Trump’s growing vision for the ballroom triggered a cascade of design issues, including conflicts with building standards McCrery was trained to follow, according to the people familiar with their discussions.

McCrery informed the White House that Trump’s ballroom design did not meet fire safety codes, which require the majority of guests to be able to quickly exit through the main entrance during an emergency, according to the people and documents.

The architect also pointed out that alternative emergency exit routes out of the building were insufficient, and that there was little in the design to prevent a kitchen fire from rapidly spreading into the event space on the floor above.

This is all just a vanity project for Trump... he has a Walter Mitty dream of going down in history like Versailles and Peterhof.

Renderings show an ornate and gilded interior that departs from the simplicity of the original White House and echoes the look of the ballroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, a look he has said was inspired by the Palace of Versailles in France. A March budget for the new White House ballroom included nearly $6 million in gold leaf.