'Construction has to stop': Trump ordered to halt his $400 million White House ballroom project
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'Construction has to stop': Trump ordered to halt his $400 million White House ballroom project")
White House Ballroom extension is a pet project of President Donald Trump Photograph: (Others)
A US judge halted Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project. The US president reacted furiously after the judge asked for approval from Congress.
US President Donald Trump's White House ballroom project has been halted, for now. A judge has ordered the stoppage of construction of the project, reported to cost $400 million. Trump had ordered the demolition of the historic White House East Wing in order to build the ballroom in a 90,000 square foot area. The Trump administration has appealed against the order issued by a judge who had been appointed by his fellow Republican predecessor, George W Bush.
What the judge said about the Trump White House ballroom
US District Judge Richard Leon in Washington was ruling on a plea by the National Trust for Historic Preservation for a preliminary injunction on the project. Granting the injunction sought by the NGO, the judge wrote: “Unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorisation, construction has to stop!”
“But here is the good news. It is not too late for Congress to authorise the continued construction of the ballroom project,” Leon added.
“The president may at any time go to Congress to obtain express authority to construct a ballroom and to do so with private funds,” Leon wrote adding, “Indeed, Congress may even choose to appropriate funds for the ballroom, or at least decide that some other funding scheme is acceptable. Either way, Congress will thereby retain its authority over the nation’s property and its oversight over the government’s spending.”
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Why is there opposition to Trump ballroom project?
The NGO had opposed the destruction of the historic East Wing without congressional approval. In doing so, it alleged in the petition that Trump exceeded his authority.
The judge, in his opionion, wrote: “The National Trust’s interests in a constitutional and lawful process will be vindicated. And the American people will benefit from the branches of government exercising their constitutionally prescribed roles. Not a bad outcome, that!”
Also read: 'Staircase to nowhere': Leavitt slams report revealing White House ballroom design 'flaws'
Trump hits out at judge over his pet project
Trump claimed in a Truth Social post that the ballroom project 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”.
He attacked the National Trust as “a radical left group of lunatics” and said of the judge: “He is WRONG! Congressional approval has never been given on anything, in these circumstances, big or small, having to do with construction at the White House.”
That is factually wrong, as the last renovation of the White House by President Harry Truman in 1949–52 took place after congressional approval.
According to reports, the project is privately funded. Donors include tech firms like Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Palantir, Google and Comcast, besides defence firm Lockheed Martin
