President Donald Trump has installed four allies on a federal commission set to review his White House ballroom plan, including its former chief architect — his latest move to secure rapid approval for the controversial project.
Trump appointed architect James McCrery II and art critic Roger Kimball to the Commission of Fine Arts this week, according to court documents filed late Thursday. Trump also tapped two officials for the panel who already serve in his government: Mary Anne Carter, who chairs the National Endowment for the Arts, and Matthew Taylor, an official serving at the National Endowment for the Humanities, according to the White House.
The fine arts commission, which is charged by Congress with advising the president on major design projects in Washington, is one of two independent federal agencies scheduled to review the ballroom and weigh in on its size, design and other aesthetics. The National Capital Planning Commission, which focuses on urban planning, is also reviewing the project, which would be the most significant change to the White House in decades.
Administration lawyers told a federal court that they hope to win the two commissions’ approval for the ballroom project in March, and that they intend to begin aboveground construction on the ballroom in April. Construction crews are currently working on underground elements of the project — work that the White House has defended as a matter of national security while declining to provide details. A presidential emergency bunker has been located on the site for decades.
Trump has proceeded as if the ballroom project will go forward, purchasing marble on a recent trip to Florida that White House officials said would be used for the ballroom and describing events he plans to hold in the space.
“I’m under budget and ahead of schedule,” Trump said at a news conference last month, a phrase he’s repeated in recent interviews.
Democrats, historic preservationists and watchdog organizations have said that the project must undergo federal review. The National Trust for Historic Preservation last month sued the administration over its rapid demolition of the East Wing annex, calling it illegal and asking for a halt to construction until the review panels complete their work. A hearing in the case is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29 in U.S. District Court in Washington.
The fine arts commission is slated to hear its first public presentation on the ballroom next week. The planned two-month review process is far faster than the two commissions’ approach to past White House projects, such as a planned fence conceived during the Obama administration, which took years to win final approval.
The commissions are also expected to review other projects that would shape Washington’s landscape, including Trump’s planned triumphal arch and planned sculpture garden of notable Americans.
Last year, Trump fired Biden holdovers on both commissions and has now stocked them with allies such as Kimball, who has endorsed and praised the president, and McCrery, who served as the ballroom’s lead architect before stepping back from the project after arguing with Trump about its planned size. The White House said last month that McCrery is still consulting on the project.
The White House did not respond to questions about whether McCrery would recuse himself from the panel’s review of the ballroom, given his work on its design. A representative for McCrery declined to comment.
CBS News first reported the appointments.
Leaders of the other panel with a central role in approving the ballroom, the National Capital Planning Commission, already appear fully supportive of the project. Will Scharf, the president’s staff secretary, chairs that panel, and James Blair, the president’s top legislative aide, serves as its vice chair.
Scharf and Blair both expressed enthusiastic support for the planned ballroom at a commission meeting last week.
Past presidents historically installed a mix of architects, artists and urban planners to the National Capital Planning Commission — not their political deputies.
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