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James McCrery, the first architect hired to work on President Donald Trump’s ballroom project for the East Wing of the White House, resigned last year amid concerns that the president’s many demands for the construction project wouldn’t comply with safety codes.
McCrery abruptly quit the project in October 2025. According to reporting from The Washington Post, McCrery’s decision to leave was because Trump’s demands for the building would violate fire and safety codes, and did not include adequate plans for emergency exits.
When McCrery told Trump that his ideas were problematic, the president dismissed him, reportedly saying, “I am the code.”
The White House has denied the Post’s reporting. The publication said it spoke to two sources about the matter, who confirmed the allegations and corroborated their claims with documentation.
Federal law mandates that any changes to federal buildings, like the White House, must comport with building safety standards to the “maximum extent feasible.” Only if there is a national security risk can those codes be ignored.
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Even if Trump provided that rationale to McCrery, as his administration has in court cases defending the ballroom, it would be questionable to disregard building codes on that basis. As the president has said on many occasions, the ballroom is intended to be used to host foreign dignitaries and other important events. Not abiding by safety measures required by law would itself likely compromise national security, putting all in attendance at risk should an emergency occur.
Last month, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court’s ruling that Trump’s reconstruction of the East Wing was unlawful. The majority in that ruling stated that, “Each President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House and its Executive Residence,” noting that Congress is delegated the authority to change the building’s major aesthetics, not the president.
However, later in August, the conservative Supreme Court allowed construction to continue, pending the full outcome of the case.
Critics have pointed to Trump’s words to McCrery as further evidence of the president’s authoritarianism, which he has showcased repeatedly during both of his presidential terms.
“‘L’État, c’est moi’ is a phrase attributed to France’s King Louis XIV, and 370 years later, the gap between ‘I am the state’ and ‘I am the code’ is narrow,” MS NOW producer Steve Benen pointed out.
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