Donald Trump has lashed out at a lawsuit seeking to halt his ever-expanding White House ballroom, warning that any attempt to stop the project after he put so much effort into it would be “devastating” to America.
As tensions escalate across the country over the killing of yet another U.S. citizen by immigration enforcement officers, the president issued a wild, 450-word Truth Social post on Sunday morning - not in relation to the latest tragedy, but rather, his pet vanity project.
“Making such a large gift to the U.S.A. was thought to be, by almost everyone, “A WONDERFUL THING TO DO” - But no, as usual, I got sued, this time by the Radical Left National (No!)Trust for Historic Preservation, a group that couldn’t care less about our Country!” he lamented.
“Stoppage of construction, at this late date, when so much has already been ordered and done, would be devastating to the White House, our Country, and all concerned,” he added.
The president’s comments come one month after the National Trust Preservation Committee filed a lawsuit accusing him of overstepping his authority to fast-track the controversial ballroom.
The legal challenge sought to halt further construction until a “legally mandated review process” could take place that would give Americans a say in the $400 million project.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon has yet to rule on the case, but during a hearing last week appeared to lean toward pausing construction.
In one particularly telling exchange on Thursday, the Bush-appointed judge expressed deep skepticism over the project after the administration’s lawyers cited the White House pool President Gerald Ford built in 1975 and the White House Tennis Complex as two structures that didn’t get direct congressional authorization.
“The ’70s Ford pool? You compare that to ripping down the East Wing?” Leon asked. “C’mon, be serious.”
Trump, however, said in his post that “there is no practical or reasonable way to go back” on the project because “all of the Structural Steel, Windows, Doors, A.C./Heating Equipment, Marble, Stone, Precast Concrete, Bulletproof Windows and Glass, Anti-Drone Roofing, and much more, has been ordered (or is ready to be).”
“Why didn’t these obstructionists and troublemakers bring their baseless lawsuit much earlier? Congress never tried, or wanted, to stop the Ballroom Project! Everyone knew what was taking place at the White House — A great, big, beautiful gift to the United States of America!” he fumed.
The White House first announced the ballroom project in July, days after Trump quietly stacked the key planning authority overseeing it with his White House aides and allies.
But millions of Americans were nonetheless shocked last year when the historic East Wing was abruptly demolished to make way for it.
And despite previously declaring that the project would “not interfere” with the existing White House building, it has continued to expand in size, scope and cost.
As revealed by the Daily Beast last month, the expanded renovations involve rebuilding the East Wing colonnade with a second-story passageway connecting the ballroom to the executive residence, where the president lives.
The ballroom itself would also be on the second level of a newly constructed building.
And as the president’s lead architect revealed last month, another level could soon be built above the West Wing Colonnade—the iconic columned walkway connecting the Oval Office to the Executive Residence at the White House.
But Trump justified his project, which he said was “being done with the design, consent, and approval of the highest levels of the United States Military and Secret Service.”
“The mere bringing of this ridiculous lawsuit has already, unfortunately, exposed this heretofore Top Secret fact,” he added.
The new ballroom will be privately funded by Trump and various billionaire donors, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Palantir, many of whom currently benefit from lucrative government contracts or government deregulation.
On Saturday night, hours after Border Patrol agents killed Alex Pretti, a Veterans Affairs nurse in Minneapolis, Trump invited some of those billionaire donors to the White House to attend a dinner and screening of the first lady’s new documentary, “Melania.”
The screening took place in a makeshift theatre because the original White House cinema, which sat in the East Wing, was demolished last year.
But Amazon chief executive Tim Cook and others faced a fierce backlash for attending the screening.
“If you’re a CEO willing to sit in the company of this regime, your ‘shareholder value’ excuse feels pretty blood-soaked tonight,” posted the anti-Trump conservative political strategist Rick Wilson.
