Trump administration says White House ballroom construction is a matter of national security

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday in a court filing that the president’s White House ballroom construction project must continue for reasons of national security.

The filing came in response to a lawsuit filed last Friday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation asking a federal judge to halt the project until it goes through multiple independent reviews and wins approval from Congress.

In its filing, the administration included a declaration from the deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service saying more work on the site of the former White House East Wing is still needed to meet the agency’s “safety and security requirements.” The administration has offered to share classified details with the judge in an in-person setting without the plaintiffs present.

The government’s response to the lawsuit offers the most comprehensive look yet at the ballroom construction project, including a window into how it was so swiftly approved by the Trump administration bureaucracy and its expanding scope.

The filings assert that final plans for the ballroom have yet to be completed despite the continuing demolition and other work to prepare the site for construction. Below-ground work on the site continues, wrote John Stanwich, the National Park Service’s liaison to the White House, and work on the foundations is set to begin in January. Above-ground construction “is not anticipated to begin until April 2026, at the earliest,” he wrote.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation did not immediately respond to email messages seeking comment.

The privately funded group last week asked the U.S. District Court to block Trump’s ballroom addition until it goes through comprehensive design reviews, environmental assessments, public comments and congressional debate and ratification.

Trump had the East Wing torn down in October as part of the project to build an estimated $300 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom before his term ends in 2029.

The administration argues in the filing that the plaintiff’s claims about the demolition of the East Wing are “moot” because the tear-down cannot be undone. The administration also argues that claims about future construction are “unripe” because the plans are not final.

The administration also contends that the National Trust for Historic Preservation cannot establish “irreparable harm” because above-ground construction is not expected until April. It argues that the reviews sought in the lawsuit, consultation with the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, “will soon be underway without this Court’s involvement.”

“Even if Plaintiff could overcome the threshold barriers of mootness, ripeness, and lack of standing, Plaintiff would fail to meet each of the stringent requirements necessary to obtain such extraordinary preliminary relief,” the administration said.

Trump’s ballroom project has prompted criticism in the historic preservation and architectural communities, and among his political adversaries, but the lawsuit is the most tangible effort thus far to alter or stop his plans for an addition that itself would be nearly twice the size of the White House before the East Wing was torn down.

A hearing in the case was scheduled Tuesday in federal court in Washington.

Darlene Superville, The Associated Press