Preservation group sues Trump over ballroom construction
“President Trump has full legal authority to modernize, renovate and beautify the White House, just as his predecessors did,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.
The National Trust’s lawsuit said Trump never sought public input and ignored laws requiring consultation with the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts before demolishing the East Wing and beginning work on the massive ballroom.
US President Donald Trump shows an artist’s impression of the new ballroom to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in October.Credit: access point
“Inviting comment from the American people demonstrates respect and helps ensure a lasting legacy befitting a government of the people, by the people, for the people,” said Carol Quillen, the trust’s president and CEO.
The conservation group asked the Washington court to halt construction until federal agencies complete environmental reviews, federal commissions approve plans and Congress authorizes the project.
Administration officials argued that no further work should be done until they completed “the required inspections, which are inspections that must be done before the defendants demolish the East Wing and begin construction of the ballroom.”
Trump has already bypassed the federal government’s usual construction practices and historical reviews with the East Wing demolition. He recently added another architecture firm to the project.
The East Wing of the White House was demolished in October.Credit: Bloomberg
Trump has long said the White House ballroom is overdue, complaining that events are being held outside under tents because the East Room and State Dining Room cannot accommodate larger crowds. Trump said guests get wet feet if it rains during such events, among other complaints.
The White House is expected to submit plans for Trump’s new ballroom to the federal planning commission before the end of the year, about three months after construction begins.
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Will Scharf, whom Trump appointed to head the National Capital Planning Commission, said at the panel’s monthly meeting last week that he was told by his White House colleagues that the long-awaited plans would be presented in December.
“Once the plans are presented, that’s when the role of this commission and its professional staff will really begin,” said Scharf, who is also one of the Republican president’s top aides in the White House.
He said the review process would take place at a “normal and deliberate pace”.
Reuters, AP
