White House claims new ballroom ‘vital project’ for Trump family safety – National
In a motion filed on April 3, National Park Service lawyers say that the federal judge’s order to suspend construction of the new facility is “threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the President and his family, and the President’s staff.”
The ballroom is “a vital project for the safety and security of the White House and the President, his family, and his staff,” the administration said. “Halting construction would imperil the President and others who live and work in the White House.”
The motion notes that almost US$400 million in “private donations and contributions have already been committed, or spent” in the purchase of building materials.
“As an example, the protective missile resistant steel columns, beams, drone proof roofing materials, and bullet, ballistic, and blast proof glass, are largely made, being used, and/or on their way to the project. Likewise, the bomb shelters, hospital and medical area, protective partitioning, and Top Secret Military installations, structures, and equipment, are built and/or ready to be built, installed, and placed,” the motion said.
“Time is of the essence!” the lawyers wrote, citing materials that will be installed to make a “heavily fortified” facility.
“The district court took the erroneous, sweeping view that Congress did not authorize the ballroom construction at the White House — yet correctly allows construction ‘necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds, including the ballroom construction site, and provide for the personal safety of the President and his staff,’” the motion read.
The lawyers also said that the judge was “given an opportunity to see the construction taking place at the site, but surprisingly, never responded to our invite.”
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“As the President has stated publicly, and as classified declarations in the record detail, the new East Wing’s entire design cohesively advances critical national-security objectives, including protecting the President, his family, staff, all elements of the White House itself, continuity of operations, and communications infrastructure from hostile attacks via drones, ballistic missiles, bullets, biohazards, through specially and specifically designed Military grade ventilation, and much more,” the filing continued.
According to the motion, those security features are “so necessary for the safety of the President, his family, and staff, and the White House itself, dictate the entire project.”
Lawyers said that the path to this injunction “confirms its unfairness, untenability, and danger to the White House and the people working and living within its walls.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington earlier this month ordered the temporary pause of the construction project after granting the National Trust for Historic Preservation group’s request for a preliminary injunction that temporarily halts the ballroom project.
Leon concluded that unless Congress approves the project, the preservationist group suing to stop the project is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims because “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have.”
Leon added, “The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner!”
The judge suspended enforcement of his order for 14 days, acknowledging that the administration would appeal his decision.
In his ruling, Leon suspended enforcement of his order, recognizing that “halting an ongoing construction project may raise logistical issues.”
Leon also addressed national security in his ruling, saying that he reviewed information that the government submitted to him and concluded that halting construction wouldn’t jeopardize national security. He exempted any construction work that is necessary for the safety and security of the White House from the scope of the injunction.
In a social media post, Trump criticized the trust for suing him over a project that he said is being built at no cost to taxpayers. “Doesn’t make much sense, does it?” he wrote.
“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,” Trump wrote.
“I then get 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, a Republican and Democrat President!), where all I am doing is fixing, cleaning, running, and ‘sprucing up’ a terribly maintained, for many years, Building, but a Building of potentially great importance,” he continued.
Trump referred to the National Trust for Historic Preservation as “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics whose funding was stopped by Congress in 2005.”
“So, the White House Ballroom, and The Trump Kennedy Center, which are under budget, ahead of schedule, and will be among the most magnificent Buildings of their kind anywhere in the World, gets sued by a group that was cut off by Government years ago, but all of the many DISASTERS in our Country are left alone to die,” Trump’s post concluded.
This isn’t the first setback Trump’s ballroom has encountered.
In March, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) opened a forum where the public could comment on the project. The commission would then vote on whether to move forward with the White House renovation.
The commission received more than 32,000 written comments — mostly negative — about the 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition.
The NCPC, which oversees federal building construction, said a “vast majority” of the comments received “are in opposition to the project” and noted that a high percentage of those raising objections focused on components of the project outside of the NCPC’s purview.
With an 8-1 vote, Trump’s ballroom won final approval from the 12-member NCPC, allowing the plan to move forward.
— With files from The Associated Press
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