White House urges court to allow Trump's ballroom construction, says it will protect POTUS' family
WASHINGTON, DC: Requesting permission to continue the construction of White House ballroom, the administration has reached out to a federal appeals court.
The White House argued that, along with ensuring the safety of the president’s family, the ballroom will also provide protection to the country as a whole.
'Necessary for president and his family's security': WH on ballroom
In a petition filed on Thursday, April 9, with the US Circuit Court of Appeals for Washington, DC, the White House urged the court to allow the construction of President Donald Trump's $400 million ballroom to continue.
The project as a whole is "necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds, including the ballroom construction site, and provide for the personal safety of the President and his staff,” the petition further stated.
The administration, in another filing, described the ballroom as “a vital project for the safety and security of the White House and the president, his family, and his staff.” It continued stating that halting the ballroom project will “Imperil the President and others who live and work in the White House."
Ballroom to modernize security?
The filing also highlighted the safety measures that have been installed or are being installed in the area where the ballroom is to be erected.
“As an example, the protective missile-resistant steel columns, beams, drone-proof roofing materials, and bullet, ballistic, and blast-proof glass are largely made, being used, and/or on their way to the project,” the filing said.
The filing continued, “the bomb shelters, hospital and medical area, protective partitioning, and Top Secret Military installations, structures, and equipment, are built and/or ready to be built, installed, and placed.”
The development came after the federal judge issued an order blocking the construction of the proposed ballroom and halting any further demolition of the East Wing earlier this year.
Preservation group denounces White House's security claim as overblown
The White House argued that blocking the construction over the underground work site, "would imperil the President and national security and indefinitely leave a large hole beside the Executive Residence."
The administration got a legal pushback from a preservation group, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, that sued to stop the project until it receives the mandatory Congress approval.
Denouncing the White House’s argument that an open construction site poses a security threat as overblown, the preservation group argued that President Trump is still living, hosting conferences and foreign guests there.
