Judge suspends White House banquet hall, reveals President Trump’s planned hospital
A federal judge has again ordered a halt to construction on President Trump’s White House ballroom until “authorization of Congress” is received.
The Atlanta native was in Jimmy Kimmel’s crosshairs during a recent monologue thanks to his work on President Trump’s various construction projects.
Rodney Mims Cook Jr., best known in Atlanta as the man behind the Millennium Gate Museum, is the son of Congressman and civil rights supporter Rodney Mims Cook Sr., and was appointed by President Trump this year to head the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts.
The Buckhead native and the rest of the committee have also been active in the White House reconstruction project and the construction of the Arch of Triumph near Arlington National Cemetery.
Kimmel spoke on the show about the project and the president’s “tantrum.”
Kimmel said Cook looked like an inappropriate “Hogwarts professor.”
In his opening monologue, Kimmel said Trump’s visit to Las Vegas was like “Pennywise going back into the sewer,” and joked about the president’s “tip-free” roundtable in Las Vegas. He also said that President Trump threw a “tantrum” online after news that a judge had suspended construction on the White House’s “big, beautiful ballroom.”
“The good news for President Trump is that things appear to be moving toward construction of what his press secretary is cryptically calling the Arc de Triomphe,” Kimmel said. The show featured a doctored video of Caroline Leavitt holding up an image of the arches, but the actual design was replaced with McDonald’s Golden Arches.
Leavitt pronounced the word “arch” in the video as “arc,” which Kimmel said was reminiscent of the French war memorial, the Arc de Triomphe. Kimmel joked that Trump stole the idea from the French, but instead of using it to honor the general who died defending France, Trump’s arch “will be named after the draft dodger who killed America.”
“The arch was highly praised by Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chairman of President Trump’s art committee,” Kimmel said. A photo of Cook, taken from the organization’s website, was shown on a screen, and Kimmel said: “I think it’s really cool to see him here, looking like the Hogwarts professor who got fired for giving Hermione the owl.”
USA TODAY reached out to Cook about the joke but did not receive a response.
Cook, a major supporter of Trump construction
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this year, Mr. Crook criticized past administrations for hosting White House events under tents on the lawn because of the large attendance.
“We shouldn’t entertain the world in a tent,” Cook told the magazine. “There are security issues with entertaining foreign leaders, let alone our own leaders, in tents.”
Cook said the U.S. Commission on the Arts did not just blindly approve Trump’s plans for the ballroom, but deliberated and persuaded Trump to agree to a smaller construction.
“We asked him to compromise on the ballroom wing, and he did,” Cooks told the AJC. “The top is no higher than the mansion, and from the north lawn it looks very proportioned and beautiful.”
Cook told The Washington Post that he has been working on the idea of building an arch in Washington for 30 years, convincing various leaders and residents over the years. Now his idea is coming to fruition.
“I think the president should do three things,” Cook told the magazine. “He wants to complete L’Enfant’s plan. No one has accomplished it,” he said, referring to architect Pere L’Enfant’s original Baroque plan for Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Commission on Fine Arts voted Thursday to approve plans for the arch and two other projects.
Eileen Wright is an Atlanta Connect reporter for USA Today’s Deep South Connect team. X Find her at @IreneEWright or email her at ismith@usatodayco.com.
