On Sunday (January 25th), President Trump criticized a privately funded heritage preservation organization that recently filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the construction of the new White House banquet hall. Trump stated that the construction was already underway and halting the project now would be “too late.”
Trump took to the social media platform “Truth Social” to criticize the non-profit organization National Trust for Historic Preservation for suing the White House over the banquet hall project.
He mentioned that he was investing over $300 million to build one of the most magnificent banquet halls globally, describing it as a gift to the United States from the “great American patriots,” with no taxpayer money involved in the funding.
The initiative aims to meet the urgent needs of the previous U.S. Presidents and government over the last 150 years, eliminating the need for setting up temporary, cheap, and unsafe “tents” on the White House lawn, affected by humidity and weather, for significant national events, banquets, meetings, and future inauguration ceremonies. However, the “radical left” organization National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit attempting to halt the ongoing construction.
Trump wrote, “All structural steel, windows, doors, HVAC systems, marble, stone, precast concrete, bulletproof windows and glass, anti-drone roof, etc., have been ordered (or are ready to be ordered), and there is no realistic or practical way to turn back. It’s too late! Why didn’t these obstructors and disruptors raise their baseless lawsuit earlier?”
“Congress has never tried to, nor wanted to stop this banquet hall project!” Trump added. “Everyone knows what’s happening at the White House—a great, generous, and beautiful gift to the United States!”
Trump mentioned that the President typically does not need permission to renovate the White House, and this expansion project received designs, consent, and approval from the highest levels of the U.S. military and Secret Service. However, “unfortunately, just filing this absurd lawsuit has now exposed these previously highly classified facts.”
Concluding, Trump emphasized that halting construction at this late stage, with so much equipment and materials already ordered and so much work completed, “will cause extremely destructive impacts on the White House, our nation, and all involved parties.”
The White House had announced plans to build a new banquet hall as early as the end of July last year and the construction was set to begin in September.
The litigation is being overseen by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who held a hearing in mid-December where he indicated he was unlikely to approve the temporary restraining order requested by the heritage preservation organization. The organization accused President Trump and federal agencies of initiating this 90,000-square-foot project without the required legal reviews and approvals.
Leon pointed out that the organization failed to demonstrate that allowing the project to continue would cause “irreparable harm,” but he also cautioned the government that construction should be limited to underground work unrelated to future specific design.
The judge is scheduled to hold another hearing on January 29th to decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction to halt the project.