A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump from building a new grand ballroom on the former site of the White House’s East Wing, which the president had torn down last year.
Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of Ronald Reagan, ruled that construction “has to stop!” until Congress “blesses this project through statutory authorization.”
“The President may at any time go to Congress to obtain express authority to construct a ballroom and to do so with private funds,” Leon wrote. “Indeed, Congress may even choose to appropriate funds for the ballroom, or at least decide that some other funding scheme is acceptable.” He emphasized that Congress “will thereby retain its authority over the nation’s property and its oversight of government spending.”
Since he retook office last year, Trump has spoken breathlessly about his plans to construct a new White House ballroom. He hasn’t let current events disturb his focus on the project, and has continued to tout it since launching a war against Iran last month.
Trump even brought out poster boards with depictions of the ballroom on Air Force One while speaking with reporters on Sunday. “They’ll be Corinthian, which is considered the best, the most beautiful by far,” he said of the ballroom’s columns, while holding up a visual aid.
The president also claimed on Sunday that the military is constructing a “massive complex” under the ballroom. “I’m so busy that I don’t have time to do this,” he said. “I’m fighting wars and other things,” Trump told reporters. “But this is very important, because this is going to be with us for a long time, and it’s going to be, I think it will be the greatest ballroom anywhere in the world.”
The ballroom is expected to cost $400 million. Trump and his administration claim it will be paid for with private donations, not taxpayer money, which raises a host of ethical concerns.
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Trump has been occupied with several different of construction-related projects since retaking office — from the ballroom, to renovations of the Kennedy Center, to building a grand arch in Washington, D.C., to reimagining the city’s various monuments. Shortly before Judge Leon handed down his ruling on Tuesday, Trump posted to Truth Social that he and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum “are working on fixing the absolutely filthy Reflecting Pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.” Trump blamed the state of the iconic pool on “Sleepy Joe” Biden. Most have been undertaken without the standard architectural reviews and congressional oversight typical of major renovations of public buildings.
Trump ranted about the efforts to stop his building projects shortly after the ballroom ruling was handed down. “The National Trust for Historic Preservation sues me for a Ballroom that is under budget, ahead of schedule, being built at no cost to the Taxpayer, and will be the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World,” he wrote, going on to tout his attempted renovation of the Kennedy Center, before leveling more attacks against the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which also sued over Trump’s Kennedy Center plans. “Doesn’t make much sense, does it?” the president concluded.
From Rolling Stone US
