The Department of Justice urged the National Trust for Historic Preservation to drop its lawsuit against the development of the White House ballroom following the shooting incident during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The letter, written by Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate and shared by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, said the “assassination attempt on President Trump proves, yet again, that the White House ballroom is essential for the safety and security of the President, his family, his cabinet, and his staff.” It emphasized that the ballroom will “ensure the safety and security of the President for decades to come and prevent future assassination attempts on the President at the Washington Hilton.”
Commenting on the ongoing lawsuit, Blanche said in a statement accompanying the letter, “This lawsuit is on behalf of a single person who walks in the vicinity of the White House once a month and expects to dislike the East Wing’s new design. The passing aesthetic gripe of a single person cannot possibly justify delaying the construction of a secure facility for the President to do his job.”
As the ballroom faces legal issues, Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) plans to introduce legislation to push its development. “This week I will introduce and seek unanimous consent for legislation providing express approval for construction of a Presidential ballroom,” he said. “It is an embarrassment to the strongest nation on earth that we cannot host gatherings in our nation’s capital, including ones attended by our President, without the threat of violence and attempted assassinations.”
President Trump also called for the ballroom to proceed. He wrote on Truth Social that the shooting “would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House.”
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon limited President Trump’s ballroom construction to “below ground.”
“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” Leon wrote in the new order. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”
“For the reasons that follow, I will further clarify and amend my Order to stop only above-ground construction of the planned ballroom,” the order adds. “My Amended Order does not, however, stop below-ground construction of national security facilities, work necessary to provide for presidential security, and construction necessary to protect and secure the White House and the construction site itself.”
