Donald Trump has installed his 26-year-old ex-receptionist on the federal arts commission that is reviewing his White House ballroom.
Chamberlain Harris, the 79-year-old president’s longtime executive assistant, is set to be sworn in to the Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday—even though she has no notable background in the arts, according to The Washington Post.
Trump fired all six members of the CFA in October and has since installed MAGA allies on the panel ahead of its next public meeting on Thursday.
Harris’s résumé brings little in the way of relevant experience to the 116‑year‑old arts commission.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2019 from the University at Albany, SUNY, with minors in communications and economics, according to the Post.
She then got a job in the Trump White House’s Office of Administration and became the “receptionist of the United States” in September 2020. She remained by Trump’s side as an aide after his 2020 election loss and has held the title of deputy director of Oval Office operations during Trump’s second term.
Congress created the CFA over a century ago, intending it to be a panel of “well-qualified judges of the fine arts” who would review and advise on the capital’s landmark projects, according to the Post.
Former fine arts commissioners told the Post that Harris—whose CFA profile says she managed Trump’s Presidential Portrait Project in conjunction with the Smithsonian—appears to have less prior arts experience than anyone in the panel’s history.
Despite her lack of arts expertise, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast in a statement that Harris “understands the President’s vision and appreciation of the arts like very few others, and brings a unique perspective that will serve the Commission well.”
Calling her a “loyal, trusted, and highly respected advisor to President Trump,” he added, “She will be a tremendous asset to the Commission of Fine Arts and continue to honorably serve our country well.”
With Harris as the panel’s youngest member, it is now reviewing Trump’s $400 million ballroom and is also set to weigh in on his other tacky D.C. projects, like his planned $100 million triumphal arch.
The president has already barged ahead without consulting federal review panels, tearing down the White House’s East Wing to make way for the 90,000-square-foot ballroom.
Trump replaced James McCrery II as the ballroom’s chief architect in December, after the architect raised concerns that the president’s vision for the ballroom was oversized.
But in January, he appointed McCrery to the Commission of Fine Arts, along with Mary Anne Carter, the chair of the National Endowment for the Arts and an ally of Susie Wiles; Roger Kimball, a conservative art critic; and Matthew Taylor, an official serving at the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The National Trust Preservation Committee has filed a lawsuit accusing Trump of overstepping his authority to fast-track the controversial ballroom. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of George W. Bush, has yet to rule on the case.
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