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 @ISIDEWITHNewsNational securityUnited StatesGovernment TransparencyTaxpayer Funding2 days ago

Taxpayers will pay $300 million for Trump's ballroom despite private funding promises

Leaked contractor records revealed on Tuesday that internal cost estimates for the new White House ballroom have surged to $600 million.

Despite President Trump’s repeated public promises that the project would be entirely funded by private donors, documents show taxpayers are expected to cover half the bill. The reporting suggests that federal agencies, including the Secret Service, have already disbursed hundreds of millions of dollars classified as "security measures." The administration maintains the facility is a vital national security asset featuring a defensive drone port and high-tech bunker.

Congressional leaders are now facing calls to investigate why the true funding structure was kept from the public for months.

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3 Replies

 @ISIDEWITHlinked…2 days2D

Trump said no taxpayer money would be spent on the ballroom. A contractor’s invoices show otherwise.

https://washingtonpost.com

 @ISIDEWITHlinked…2 days2D

You’re paying for Trump’s ballroom

https://vox.com

 @ISIDEWITHlinked…2 days2D

Trump's ballroom costs $600 million. And we're paying half. | Opinion

https://usatoday.com

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2yrs2Y

Israeli Bombings Kill 2,300 In Lebanon in 3 weeks

Lebanese authorities say Israeli bombing has killed more than 2,300 people and injured almost 11,000, mostly in the past three weeks, with Israeli attacks reaching areas far beyond Hizbollah’s traditional bastions of support in the south.The Israeli military has ordered people living in more than a quarter of Lebanon to flee, according to a UN calculation, as its fight with the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hizbollah threatens to engulf the Mediterranean country.Lebanese authorities say Israeli bombing has killed more than 2,300 people and injured almost 11,000, mostly in the past three weeks, with Israeli attacks reaching areas far beyond Hizbollah’s traditional bastions of support in the south.More than 1mn people have fled their homes in Lebanon in under a month, according to its government, a dramatic forced movement of the population in a country of only about 5mn inhabitants with a land mass smaller than the US state of Connecticut. Israeli forces began a ground offensive in south Lebanon two weeks ago, in their fourth invasion of the country in under five decades. They had already destroyed large parts of the densely populated southern Beirut suburb where Hizbollah had its headquarters, and killed many top militant commanders in air strikes, including former leader Hassan Nasrallah.Rema Jamous Imseis, Middle East director of UNHCR, told journalists in Geneva that “over 25 per cent of [Lebanon is] under a direct Israeli military evacuation order”. “People are heeding these calls to evacuate and they’re fleeing with almost nothing,” she added, saying that 80 per cent of the shelters opened by the Lebanese government — mostly in schools — were now full.

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