Former President Joe Biden didn’t hesitate to slam Donald Trump’s numerous “vanity projects” in Washington, D.C., including the East Wing demolition for construction of a ballroom at the White House and the ongoing million-dollar Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool saga. Biden ran attendees at Saturday’s Live! Casino & Hotel gala through a list of Trump’s failures and noted, “What a loser.”
“It’s not just his vanity projects: tearing down the East Wing of the White House, making room for his ballroom, putting his name on the Kennedy Center, building an arch in his own honor, even hiring his own pool guy to fix the Reflecting Pool,” Biden said. “Whoa! What a loser.”
He continued, “Look, folks, it’s not just that. The Reflecting Pool reflects something even worse than the narcissism and incompetence at the core of this administration: It’s the corruption.”
“Trump has made billions of dollars as he returned to the White House. It’s simply stunning to me,” Biden also said. “He has no shame. Frankly, it’s embarrassing to the country. Trump couldn’t care less. Making money off the presidency is the only reason he wants to be president.”
Earlier this month Republicans removed $1 billion in funding for the ballroom, a concession that allowed for the advancement of a stalled immigration bill in the Senate. In April U.S. District Judge Richard Leon blocked above-ground construction on the project.
Trump spent at least $16 million for renovations of the Reflecting Pool only for the near-immediate return of algae to the landmark. Footage from D.C. and shared by news organizations and on social media also shows peeling paint.
The White House has insisted the Reflecting Pool was vandalized. “Fourteen police reports have been filed for vandalism, including the crime described in the President’s Truth Social post,” a statement sent to ABC News from the Interior Department this month read. “The U.S. Park Police will continue to carry out their number one duty of upholding law and order in our nation’s capital.”
