President Trump on Tuesday delivered a new justification for his White House ballroom, just hours after a federal judge ordered him to halt construction. The $400 million project, he argued, is a matter of presidential security.
“We have a drone-proof roof,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, reading from prepared notes. He said the ballroom would also include bulletproof glass, “air-handling systems,” “biodefense all over,” “secure telecommunications and communications all over,” bomb shelters, a hospital and “major medical facilities.”
“We have all of these things,” Mr. Trump said. “So that’s called: I am allowed to continue building as necessary.”
A federal judge on Tuesday said that work on the ballroom had to stop until the project received a go-ahead from Congress, a ruling that the administration swiftly appealed. In the Oval Office, Mr. Trump made the unusual disclosure of the security features, including apparent references to the bunker being built beneath the ballroom.
While such security details are normally kept quiet, Mr. Trump has been talking about them more openly as his project faces legal challenges. On Sunday, speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Mr. Trump referred to underground facility as a “massive complex.” He said the ballroom “essentially becomes a shed for what’s being built under.”
Mr. Trump had previously spoken of the ballroom mostly as a matter of hospitality.
He has said that a new ballroom is needed to host large events for world leaders and other guests, so that the White House does not need to stand up a large tent on the South Lawn. “We don’t have a big room,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday. “We have the East Room, which is very small.”
Mr. Trump pointed to language in the 35-page court order, which was written by Judge Richard J. Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush. In the opinion, Judge Leon wrote that he would exclude from his injunction “construction necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House.”
But Mr. Trump appeared to disregard the subsequent two sentences of the opinion, which stated: “Where does this leave us? Unfortunately for defendants, unless and until Congress blesses this project through statutory authorization, construction has to stop!”
Mr. Trump also disputed Judge Leon’s assertion that his administration needed congressional approval for the project, arguing that the 90,000-square-foot ballroom would be paid for by private donors, not taxpayers. The $400 million cost is already double what Mr. Trump originally said the project would cost.
“He’s so wrong,” Mr. Trump said of Judge Leon.
Mr. Trump earlier on Tuesday took aim on social media at the group that filed the lawsuit challenging his construction, calling the National Trust for Historic Preservation “a Radical Left Group of Lunatics.” The nonprofit chartered by Congress to guard the country’s historic buildings had argued that the project had been rushed through with no warning to or input from Congress.
The court order also came just before the National Capital Planning Commission was scheduled to take a final vote approving the ballroom, a gathering set for Thursday.
Mr. Trump has taken steps to eliminate resistance from within his administration to the ballroom plans, filling the boards and commissions meant to review the construction with loyalists. Some of them have no notable background in the arts.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
The post Bomb Shelters and a Drone-Proof Roof: Trump Says Ballroom Is a Matter of Security appeared first on New York Times.
