(AFP) – A US judge on Tuesday ordered a halt to construction of a massive ballroom launched by President Donald Trump after tearing down the historic East Wing of the White House. Trump is “steward” of the White House but “he is not, however, the owner!” wrote Judge Richard Leon, saying that congressional approval would be needed for the project.
Leon was ruling in response to a legal challenge from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, a nonprofit organization that seeks to protect historic buildings. Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, has made no secret of his passion for the ballroom project. He shocked many by having an entire section of the White House abruptly bulldozed last October, announcing the need for a new large-scale events center.
Since then, the 79-year-old Republican has rarely missed an opportunity to discuss the project, frequently meandering in mid-speech on other topics to riff about the architectural details of the proposed facility. On Tuesday, Trump railed on social media against the National Trust, calling the group “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics.” The ballroom would be “the finest Building of its kind anywhere in the World,” he insisted.
The ballroom would be Trump’s biggest mark yet on the US capital since his return to office in January 2025. The president has plastered the famed Oval Office in gold decorations, paved over the Rose Garden, and emblazoned his own name on the Kennedy Arts Center. Trump says that the cost of the ballroom—initially proposed at $200 million but now estimated as much as $400 million—is being met by private donors, including his wealthy supporters and a slew of corporations.
Leon’s scathing opinion stated that the decision for the project rested with Congress, which should also decide how it could be funded. “Ballroom construction project must stop until Congress authorizes its completion,” Leon wrote, offering a two-week delay to his order to allow Trump to appeal.
“No statute comes close to giving the president the authority he claims to have,” he clarified. “The President may at any time go to Congress to obtain express authority to construct a ballroom and to do so with private funds. Indeed, Congress may even choose to appropriate funds for the ballroom,” Leon wrote. “Either way, Congress will thereby retain its authority over the nation’s property and its oversight over the Government’s spending.”
© 2024 AFP
