President Donald Trump called on a federal judge Sunday to immediately throw out a lawsuit blocking construction of a rooftop drone base at the White House, warning the judge would be personally “held responsible” for any future attack on the executive mansion if he refuses.
“Judge Richard Leon should stop playing games with America’s Security!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The rebuke came as the Justice Department filed a five-page motion with U.S. District Judge Richard Leon pressing him to lift an injunction that has paused above-ground construction on the $400 million project, which combines a new ballroom with a rooftop drone installation.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche cited a shooting at a White House security checkpoint earlier this month in which the gunman was shot and later died at a hospital. The administration argued the incident underscores the need for hardened security at the complex.
“In light of the recent attacks against President Trump’s life, the injunction entered by this Court for the benefit of a strolling woman… Must be immediately vacated, and this suit must be dismissed,” Blanche wrote.
Trump echoed that argument directly. “With the advent of highly sophisticated, and powerful, modern day weaponry, we can no longer defend Washington, D.C., with rifles and pistols, alone,” he wrote. “This ridiculous lawsuit must be dismissed, IMMEDIATELY!”
The lawsuit was filed by a neighboring resident whom Trump described as a “serial plaintiff” whose right to stroll near the White House would be disrupted by the new structure.
Leon ruled in April that Trump lacked legal authority to build the ballroom without congressional approval and issued an injunction halting above-ground construction. An appeals court quickly put that order on hold, allowing construction to proceed. That hold, however, expires in June, setting up a potential fresh shutdown of the project within days.
Trump on Sunday described the drone installation as potentially “the most sophisticated anywhere in the World” and said it “will safeguard our Nation’s Capital, Washington, D.C., long into the future.”
He also accused Leon of allowing classified information to be exposed through the litigation. “He has already created enough problems by allowing ‘Top Secret’ information to be released and exposed based on a ridiculous lawsuit,” Trump wrote.
The project has been privately funded by donors. Trump previously gave journalists an exclusive tour of the construction site in May, touting its security features and its capacity for formal events.
