The Trump administration is planning to exhume a 100-year-old report in order to bypass approval from Congress for the president’s latest vanity construction.
Last year, President Trump, 79, announced he planned to build a 250-foot Paris-style arch on federal land near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The construction has already been criticized by a group of Vietnam War veterans, who called it a “vanity project” that was never authorized by Congress. They also warned that it threatens to obscure views of the Arlington National Cemetery, where over 400,000 American service members are buried
Now, Trump is planning to cite a government report from 1924 that authorized a similar project in order to skip approval from the current Congress for his arch, according to The Washington Post.
Trump’s administration officials argue Congress pre-approved the 2026 arch when lawmakers signed off on a report by the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission in 1925.
The vintage report called for two 166-foot columns to be built on Columbia Island, however, they were never constructed. After being approved in 1925, the Memorial Bridge opened in 1932. The Trump administration argues that in belatedly building the arch that never happened, they would be fulfilling the wishes of previous lawmakers.
Trump’s vanity arch would use the same 166-foot base, though it would be super-sized with an extra 84 feet of pedestal and statuary to reach a total of 250 feet.
Trump has demanded that work begin on the structure to coincide with America’s 250th birthday in July.
“Congress authorized the arch project when it approved the design set out in Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission’s report,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in a filing last month, referencing the vintage report.
The century-old argument was also raised by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum at a meeting of the Commission of Fine Arts last month.
“President Trump believes that this year’s celebration of 250 years of American independence is the perfect moment to finally realize this long-standing, over-century-old vision, but yet unfilled vision for Columbia Island,” Burgum said.
However the loophole from the last century has been called out in legal circles.
“The notion Congress a century ago authorized construction of this 250-foot arch in Memorial Circle is absurd,” Wendy Liu, a lawyer at Public Citizen Litigation Group, told the Post.
Her company represents military veterans and an architectural historian who have filed lawsuits to stop the project.
She added that the 1925 authorization was “for a now-defunct commission to design and construct Arlington Memorial Bridge, which was completed a century ago, pursuant to a 10-year construction and funding schedule. It did not authorize this arch.”
Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee have also slammed the Trump administration’s use of the archival report.
“This is their playbook,” Jared Huffman said to the Post. “The fact that they’re trotting out this tortured argument that a 100-year-old authorization for something totally different satisfies a law today is laughable, but consistent with their pattern of ignoring congress.”
Huffman posted a video on Instagram last week, capturing construction work happening on the proposed site of the arch, labeling it an “atrocity.”
The Post reported that geophysical testing on the proposed arch site on Memorial Circle—a traffic roundabout on Columbia Island—began last week.
Memorial Circle is considered protected land under federal law, meaning any construction there requires congressional approval.
A fine arts commission, filled with Trump allies, is due to review a revised arch proposal on Thursday. Four golden lions have been removed from the original design, however it remains 250-feet tall, which will make it taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Trump’s arch has already faced a probe by federal aviation authorities, who are concerned the structure will be just two miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, according to a CNN report.
The airport, which handles 900 flights a day, and its surrounding airspace have witnessed a number of high-profile collisions and other incidents over the years, including last January’s crash between a commercial jet and a military helicopter that killed all 67 people aboard both aircrafts.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and National Park Service for comment.
