White House ballroom project ‘must continue for national security reasons’

The Trump administration has said in a court filing that the White House ballroom construction project must continue for unexplained national security reasons and because a conservationists’ organisation that wants it stopped has no standing to sue.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation asked a federal judge to halt Donald Trump’s project until it goes through independent reviews and a public comment period and wins approval from Congress.

The administration’s 36-page filing in response included a declaration from Matthew C Quinn, deputy director of the US Secret Service that said 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 filing did not explain the specific national security concerns. The administration has offered to share classified details with the judge in a private, in-person setting without the plaintiffs present.

The East Wing had sat on an emergency operations bunker for the president.

Mr Quinn said even a temporary halt to construction would “consequently hamper” the agency’s ability to fulfil its statutory obligations and its protective mission.

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

The government’s response offered 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.

It says that the plans for the ballroom have yet to be finalised despite the continuing demolition and other work to prepare the site for eventual 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 respond to email messages seeking comment.

The privately funded group last week asked the US District Court to block Mr Trump’s project.

“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,” the lawsuit states. “And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in.”

Trump had the East Wing torn down in October as part of his plan to build an estimated 300 million dollar, 90,000sq ft ballroom able to accommodate about 1,000 people before his term ends in January 2029.

He says presidents before him have wanted an event space larger than the rooms currently at the White House, and says the ballroom would end the practice of entertaining visiting foreign dignitaries in large, temporary pavilions on the south grounds.

The trust asserts that the plans should have been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission, the Commission of Fine Arts and Congress before any action was taken.

The lawsuit notes that the trust wrote to those entities and the National Park Service on October 21, after East Wing demolition began, urging a stop to the project and asking the administration to comply with federal law, but received no response.