Watch President Trump unveil renderings of the new White House ballroom
President Donald Trump told reporters that the military was searching the White House ballroom as a “cabin” for a secret complex beneath it.
A federal judge has ordered a halt to President Donald Trump’s plan to build a $400 million White House ballroom on the site of the demolished East Tower, saying construction cannot proceed “without the express permission of Congress.”
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon’s ruling comes after the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed an amended lawsuit last month against President Trump and several federal agencies seeking to halt construction on the 90,000-square-foot ballroom. The nonprofit group argued that President Trump should have sought permission from Congress before demolishing the East Tower.
The lawsuit in early December was dismissed by a judge, who said the organization did not sufficiently prove that the president exceeded his authority.
However, the latest ruling halts any action “including, but not limited to, further demolition, site preparation work, landscaping, excavation, foundation work, or other construction or related work” except for moves that are “absolutely necessary” to ensure the safety of the area.
Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said in a statement that she is pleased with the decision.
“This is a victory for the American people in a project that will have a lasting impact on one of our nation’s most beloved and iconic places,” she said.
The order will take effect 14 days after its issuance date, i.e. April 14th. The White House team must report compliance to the court within 21 days of the order’s effective date.
White House Press Secretary Davis Engle said: “President Trump clearly has the legal authority to modernize, renovate and beautify the White House, as all of his predecessors have done. We will immediately appeal this terrible decision and we are confident we will prevail.”
Two days before the sentencing, President Trump said that a key part of the ballroom being built for the White House is a “large military complex” in its basement that should be kept secret. He accused the lawsuit of revealing secrets.
“Right now, the military is building a huge complex underneath the ballroom, which was discovered because of some stupid lawsuit that was filed recently,” Trump said. “But the military is building a large complex below the banquet hall, which is currently under construction, and we are making very good progress.”
Minutes after the verdict, President Trump wrote a post to
“The National Trust for Historic Preservation is suing me for a ballroom that was built on budget, ahead of schedule, and at no cost to taxpayers, and is the finest building of its kind anywhere in the world,” he wrote.
On March 23, a coalition of eight heritage and architectural organizations, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation and co-led by three law firms, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., demanding that the Trump administration comply with historic preservation laws and secure congressional approval before making changes to the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center.
President Trump also slammed the Kennedy Center case in reaction to the ballroom ruling.
“Then I am sued by them over the renovation of the dilapidated and structurally unsound former Kennedy Center, now the Trump Kennedy Center (a show of bipartisan unity between Republican and Democratic presidents!), where all I am doing is repairing, cleaning, operating, and “sprucing up” a building that has been badly maintained over the years, but is potentially a very important building. ”
Trump went on to complain that he is not suing the Federal Reserve over the renovation of its headquarters, which the preservation group said was “vandalized inside and out by an incompetent and potentially corrupt Fed chairman,” and that he is not suing California Governor Gavin Newsom over the California High Speed Rail Project, a long-delayed multibillion-dollar project often referred to by critics as the “Railway to Nowhere.”
“Did they file a lawsuit over California Governor Gavin Newcomb’s ‘Railway to Anywhere,’ which is billions over budget and will likely never be opened or used,” he wrote.
The National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees federal real estate development and site planning, is scheduled to vote on the project on April 2, following a public hearing held last month. The public hearing received more than 35,000 comments, most of them negative.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent. You can follow her at X @SwapnaVenugopal.
