Construction company 'called out' Trump over unpaid White House East Wing demolition bills?

In early November 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that ACECO Engineering & Construction, a company involved in the White House East Wing demolition, "called out" U.S. President Donald Trump over unpaid balances from the job.

The demolition began in late October to make room for Trump's planned ballroom. The president initially said the ballroom, which he told reporters would be funded by private donors rather than tax money, "won't interfere with the current building," referring to the White House. However, contractors ended up demolishing the entire East Wing.

One Threads user wrote: "JUST IN; ACECO Engineering & Construction, the firm in charge of the White House East Wing demolition, has called out President Donald Trump over unpaid balances for their services in demolishing the historic building."

 

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The rumor also circulated on X (archived), Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived) and Bluesky (archived).

It appeared to originate from an article on USAmidia a website that published stories using seemingly fake or embellished statements from their subjects. 

The USAmidia article included a statement allegedly attributed to a spokesperson at ACECO Engineering & Construction, a company the report claimed participated in the demolition of the East Wing of the White House. According to the outlet, the spokesperson said:

We carried out our work in good faith, under a federal contract approved by the Trump administration. However, despite repeated communications, several invoices remain unpaid. We are now left with no choice but to pursue appropriate legal and administrative action to recover what is owed.

Snopes contacted USAmidia for more information about its report. We will update this article if we receive a reply.

Searches on Google, Yahoo, Bing and DuckDuckGo produced no evidence of reputable news outlets reporting on the alleged statement (archived, archived, archived, archived). 

A separate Google search revealed that ACECO Engineering & Construction, the name of the business in USAmidia's report, was a company operating in the United Arab Emirates. It used a different logo and name from the ACECO demolition company based in Silver Spring, Maryland, that was actually involved in and whose logo appeared on machines used for the East Wing demolition. USAmidia included the Maryland-based ACECO's logo in its article's images but named ACECO Engineering and Construction from the UAE in its article.

There was no trace of the USAmidia article's purported author, Melinda Holbert, on X, Facebook or Google (archived, archived, archived). Media bias and misinformation analysis website Media Bias/Fact Check described USAmidia as "a clickbait entertainment site that publishes sensationalist and often false news with no transparency and no editorial accountability."

There was also no evidence that either the Maryland or UAE company had publicly complained about unpaid bills from the East Wing demolition job. Given the above, we have rated this claim as false.

Snopes also contacted ACECO in Maryland to ask for a comment on the report and await a reply to our query.

At the time of this writing, the company's website was "under construction." Comments on its Facebook posts reflected frustration with its participation in the East Wing demolition.

According to pictures from reputable photo agency Getty Images, ACECO in Maryland was involved in bringing down the White House East Wing.

The demolition faced heavy criticism online. One local news media outlet in Washington, D.C., reported that companies such as ACECO that were involved in the demolition also faced criticism and negative reviews as a result.

For further reading, Snopes previously investigated a claim that Trump would build or renovate a new presidential bunker under the planned ballroom. We also debunked a rumor that historic preservation laws required the president to rebuild the East Wing.