Trump Cuts the Ribbon on a White House Helipad Paid For by Lockheed Martin — Thanking the CEO of a Contractor Holding More Than $40 Billion in Government Work — While Mark Warner Calls It One of the "Crazy Vanity Projects That Only Serve Himself" and Connecticut Democrats Say the Bill May Land on Taxpayers Anyway
On Monday, September 21, 2026, President Trump used oversized gold scissors to cut a red, white and blue ribbon on a new granite helipad on the White House South Lawn, then took Marine One's first flight from it. The roughly $5–6 million landing pad was paid for not by Congress but by Sikorsky Aircraft — a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin — through a contribution routed to the National Park Service. Trump posted afterward that he wanted "to thank Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, who made this valuable contribution to our Country," adding, "Our Government has been thinking about doing this for 25 years, but was never able to get it done. I get things done!" The donor is also one of the federal government's largest contractors, holding more than $40 billion in new and expanded government contracts, and it had already given $1 million to Trump's inauguration and more than $10 million toward his White House ballroom. The official rationale is that exhaust from Sikorsky's new VH-92 Patriot Marine One helicopters was scorching the South Lawn grass. Democrats have objected since the project was announced in July. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand called it a "joke," contrasting it with a bipartisan housing bill Trump would not sign. Sen. Mark Warner said Trump was "charging taxpayers an extra $875,000 just to speed up construction of his private White House helipad — adding to the hundreds of millions he's spent on crazy vanity projects that only serve himself." Connecticut's delegation — Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Reps. John Larson, Joe Courtney and Rosa DeLauro, who represent Sikorsky's Stratford workforce — praised the company's workers but said Trump was "rushing to complete yet another White House project without providing the American people with the transparency they deserve." The ribbon-cutting itself became a second story: the major television networks skipped live coverage in protest of Trump's ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, leaving the president inaudible over helicopter noise on an in-house video feed.
“We are just leaving the White House Lawn on the maiden voyage from the newly built, and very beautiful, Heliport! I want to thank Jim Taiclet, CEO of Lockheed Martin, who made this valuable contribution to our Country. Our Government has been thinking about doing this for 25 years, but was never able to get it done. I get things done! Also, and most importantly, THANK YOU to the Great Construction Workers and Stone Masons of the Washington, D.C., area, who created something very special, and to Clark Construction for its wonderful supervisory work. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”