Preservationists are pressing ahead with their legal challenge to President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom, despite a request from the Department of Justice that they withdraw the complaint after the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation said.
The request came as Trump and other conservatives made a renewed push for the ballroom in the wake of the shooting, arguing that the attack highlighted challenges in ensuring presidential security at large events outside the White House grounds and urging the National Trust to drop its lawsuit.
Justice Department officials, according to the Trust, told the group that prosecutors would seek a court dismissal if the Trust did not voluntarily abandon the case, framing the request as a response to “last night’s extraordinary events.”
Trust attorney Gregory Craig declined the DOJ request in a letter to the Justice Department, writing that the underlying legal questions are still the same. Craig said the dispute turns on whether the Constitution and federal statutes require Congress to authorize construction of a ballroom on White House grounds, and whether Congress has done so. “What Saturday’s awful event does not change is that the Constitution and multiple federal statutes require Congress to authorize construction of a ballroom on White House grounds, and that Congress has not done so,” Craig wrote.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The National Trust sued in December, according to the lawsuit’s timeline as described by the group, about a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people. Trump has said the project is funded by private donations, while the Trust’s reporting indicates public money is paying for a below-ground bunker and security upgrades.
In the lawsuit, the National Trust argued that Trump overstepped his authority by moving forward without first receiving approval from key federal agencies and Congress. The dispute has also been shaped by the courts’ handling of construction steps during the litigation.
After a lower court judge continued to block above-ground construction on the site, an appeals court allowed Trump to continue the project. The appeals court scheduled a June 5 hearing to review the case, according to the Trust’s reporting of the procedural posture.