The Department of Justice is demanding that a preservation group drop its lawsuit challenging Donald Trump’s $400 million ballroom after the president ranted on social media that the “woman walking her dog” who supposedly brought the suit should drop it.
A suspected gunman targeting Trump and other top administration officials ran through a security checkpoint at Saturday’s annual White House Correspondents Association dinner before being tackled by law enforcement.
Hours later, the president argued on social media that the breach was “exactly the reason” why he needed to be able to unilaterally build a fortified White House ballroom on the site of the former East Wing.
“The ridiculous Ballroom lawsuit, brought by a woman walking her dog, who has absolutely No Standing to bring such a suit, must be dropped, immediately,” he wrote on his platform Truth Social on Sunday morning.
Later that day, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for the civil division sent lawyers for the National Trust for Historic Preservation a letter demanding that the suit be withdrawn.
A federal judge ruled last month that the 90,000-square-foot ballroom project can’t continue without congressional approval, though he said actions necessary for the “safety and security” of the White House were an exception.
A federal appeals court, however, has allowed construction to continue while the case makes its way through the courts.
“Put simply, your lawsuit puts the lives of the President, his family, and his staff at great risk,” the letter said. “Your client should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit today in light of last night’s assassination attempt on President Trump. If your client does not dismiss the lawsuit by 9:00 AM on Monday, the government will move to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the case in light of last night’s extraordinary events.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, shared a copy of the letter on X.com and wrote, “It’s time to build the ballroom.”
The DOJ’s letter claimed that thanks to the new ballroom, Trump and his successors would “no longer need to venture beyond the safety of the White House perimeter to attend large gatherings at the Washington Hilton ballroom,” where Trump and several of his Cabinet members had to be evacuated following Saturday’s attempted shooting.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the DOJ and National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has yet to comment on the letter.
Critics, however, were quick to accuse the DOJ of making specious arguments.
“The argument is an absurdity. No one would expect the president to be locked in a bunker for all events,” Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group that sued for release of the ballroom funding agreement, told NBC News.
The WHCA dinner is hosted by a private association of journalists, not the government, and is meant to honor the First Amendment, award exceptional journalism, and raise funds for scholarships and other WCHA initiatives.
U.S. presidents have traditionally attended the event as guestsnot the host—to show their commitment to a free press. If the roles are reversed, it could defeat the whole point, NBC reported.
Further undermining his administration’s own argument for the ballroom’s necessity, Trump has called for the event to be rescheduled in the next month, though he hasn’t said where. The event attracts thousands of journalists, lawmakers, celebrities, and government officials.
In a statement Sunday, the WHCA board said that it “will be meeting to assess what happened and determine how to proceed.”
In the meantime, several of Trump’s congressional allies have vowed to bypass the ballroom lawsuit by introducing legislation to both authorize and fund the project.
So far, the president has claimed he would use private donations to finance the new structure, which would dwarf the existing West Wing and White House executive residence.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told NBC he would introduce a bill on Monday.
Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana made a similar statement on X.com, as did MAGA Reps. Randy Fine of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
“I’m working with my team to draft legislation ensuring the White House Ballroom is completed,” Boebert wrote. “I don’t believe congressional approval is required for the project, but if it’ll keep activists judges on the sideline, so be it. More to come this week.”
The sudden, coordinated messaging among Republicans linking the WHCA shooting to the ballroom has led to online conspiracies that the suspect, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, was a plant, and the whole thing was staged to garner sympathy for Trump—and support for his vanity project.
Speaking to 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said of the conspiracy theorists, “I think they’re more sick than they are con people. But there’s a lot of con in there too. I haven’t heard that last night didn’t happen... usually takes a little bit longer. Usually, they wait about two or three months to start saying that.”
