who is the big strapping man who said "Sir, with tears in his eyes"?

Or embarrass him with follow up questions alone.

He will just invent a new lie. He will say Teddy Roosevelt and FDR wanted one but couldn’t get it done.

Then when someone finally confronts him on that, he will make another lie.

First: it's clear no one really wanted a ballroom there in well over 200 years, as he's obviously lying.
Next: The press doesn't do follow-ups anymore, I guess it's against the law now or something.

If you ask "They who?" F47 goes on the attack and berates you for (a) being a low-IQ individual who knows nothing of the founders' deep abiding love for fortified ballrooms, and (b) contracting with a fake news outlet to ask "gotcha" questions.

I think the optimal approach is to draw him out, get him rolling with a story: "Mr. president, what mysterious trail of deep historical clues led you to uncover your predecessors' long-standing desire for a high-security national ballroom?"

Then he goes surfing in his ocean of bullshit, fabricates a bunch of outrageous slop, and voila comedians have material for the next 3 days. I think that's the best we get from flogging that dead horse.

Press might do better pushing on the corrupt congresscritters who intend to provide public funds for F47's architectural monstrosities.

Wanted someone to ask what a Made-Great-Again America would look like.
I knew, but not a single “journalist” ever asked that question, to my knowledge.
And in every single MAGA-Mind there grew a different tumor, made to fit.