Leave it to Whoopi Goldberg to pitch President Trump a real estate idea on live television. The “View” co-host had a suggestion for the self-described builder-in-chief on Monday, April 28, 2026: skip the White House renovations and put up a new hotel instead.
Goldberg’s offbeat proposal came during a discussion of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooting, which unfolded Saturday, April 25, at the Washington Hilton. Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Vance and members of the Cabinet were evacuated from the hotel ballroom after gunshots rang out, and the co-hosts on ABC’s daytime talk show acknowledged the night could have turned into a mass casualty event.
A Builder’s Pitch From “The View”
Goldberg, who regularly calls the president “you-know-who” instead of saying his name on air, argued that if anyone is positioned to fix the venue problem, it’s a man who built his career on hotels and ballrooms.
“Here is something, you-know-who always talks about he is a builder, he knows how to do this,” Goldberg said. “Maybe he needs to build a new hotel there that has a big enough ballroom, where they don’t have to go to the Hilton, where the ballroom is under the building. This is what he says he does well.”
Then she cut to her real point: “Forget destroying the White House.” That was a clear nod to Trump’s order to demolish the East Wing of the White House to construct a new ballroom for presidential events — a project that has been a source of running debate since the announcement.
Instead, Goldberg suggested the new hotel idea is a project for life after the Oval Office. “Maybe that’s something when he stops being president,” she said.
Sober Talk About Saturday Night
The conversation turned serious as the panel walked through how close the evening came to catastrophe. The WHCA Dinner ballroom sits below the terrace level of the Hilton, a quirk of the layout that Goldberg credited with slowing any direct path to the president. She praised the Secret Service for shielding Trump and the Cabinet during the chaos, while stressing that the security setup needs serious reexamination.
Co-host Sunny Hostin pushed the discussion further, saying Americans should be “outraged” that a shooter allegedly tried to kill Trump and members of the administration. The suspect, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, made his first court appearance Monday as the Justice Department unveiled three federal charges, including attempted assassination of the president.
The dinner, which featured mentalist Oz Pearlman as the headline entertainer, had drawn the usual crowd of journalists, lawmakers and administration officials before the gunfire scattered guests and prompted an immediate evacuation.
Republicans Push Ballroom Bill
While Goldberg floated her hotel idea, Republican lawmakers headed in a very different direction. Many have used the shooting to promote construction of the new White House ballroom, framing it as a security upgrade rather than a vanity project.
Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., announced Sunday that he plans to seek unanimous consent for a bill granting congressional approval for the ballroom. In a statement, Sheehy called it “an embarrassment to the strongest nation on Earth that we cannot host gatherings in our nation’s capital, including ones attended by our president, without the threat of violence and attempted assassinations,” adding that “a president of any party should be able to host events in a secure area without attendees worrying about their safety.”
The push isn’t strictly partisan. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., called on fellow Democrats to “drop the TDS” and support building the White House ballroom following the shooting, while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., weighed in on the broader political response. Krishnamoorthi drew fire for suggesting Trump’s low approval ratings “fuel a lot of disaffection,” while Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called for a bipartisan commission on political violence. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., focused on funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
A Busy Week at the White House
The fallout has unfolded against a packed presidential schedule. Trump and first lady Melania Trump welcomed King Charles III and Queen Camilla for a four-day state visit beginning Monday, with the royal trip going forward despite the heightened security concerns. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt blamed Democratic rhetoric for fueling the climate that led to the shooting, while the White House pushed back on coverage of the East Wing demolition.
The first lady has also taken aim at late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, calling out what she described as “hateful and violent rhetoric” after Kimmel referred to her as an “expectant widow” in a sketch days before the shooting. Vice President Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel and Fox News commentators including Sean Hannity, Trace Gallagher, Guy Benson and Brit Hume have all addressed the broader debate over political tone in the days since the shooting.
Adding another wrinkle, former FBI Director James Comey was indicted Tuesday on charges of threatening the president over a 2025 Instagram post showing seashells arranged to spell “86 47” — a story that has continued to ripple through Washington alongside the WHCA Dinner aftermath.
For Goldberg, the takeaway was simpler: more seats, safer rooms and maybe a new hotel with the builder’s name on it — eventually.