President Donald Trump released a statement Sunday morning regarding the massive ballroom being built where the East Wing of the White House once stood. The East Wing has already been demolished, and construction is currently underway on the new 90,000 square-foot addition.
The upper floor will include the ballroom with a 40-foot ceiling, a lobby, bathrooms and corridor connecting it to the East Room. The lower floor will include an office suite for the first lady, kitchen space, a movie theater and a corridor connecting the area to the main residence.
The $400 million project is being funded with private donations. However, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the project “until the Trump administration goes through the appropriate approval processes,” CBS News reported Thursday.
Shockingly, the lawsuit is questioning whether President Trump can renovate the White House with private funds that were transferred to an office under his authority, rather than with funds appropriated by Congress.
“Every construction truck of concrete” that is brought to the East Wing site for construction constitutes irreparable harm to the public, argued Ted Heuer, a lawyer for the Trust.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon heard arguments over the matter on Thursday, and said he will likely issue his ruling sometime in early February.
Trump’s statement released Sunday morning reads as follows:
I’m building, on top of everything else that I am doing, one of the greatest and most beautiful Ballrooms anywhere in the World, with more than 300 Million Dollars of Great American Patriots’ money, and working closely with, right from the beginning, the United States Military and Secret Service.
This is a GIFT (ZERO taxpayer funding!) to the United States of America, of 300 to 400 Million Dollars (depending on the scope and quality of interior finishes!), for a desperately needed space, sought for over 150 years by previous Presidents and Administrations, so that the White House would no longer be forced to use a cheap and unsafe “tent,” for big and important STATE EVENTS, Dinners, Meetings, Conferences, and already scheduled future INAUGURATIONS (for safety, security, and capacity purposes!), on a very wet, and subject to weather, White House lawn.
Making such a large gift to the U.S.A. was thought to be, by almost everyone, “A WONDERFUL THING TO DO” — But no, as usual, I got sued, this time by the Radical Left National (No!)Trust for Historic Preservation, a group that couldn’t care less about our Country!
All of the Structural Steel, Windows, Doors, A.C./Heating Equipment, Marble, Stone, Precast Concrete, Bulletproof Windows and Glass, Anti-Drone Roofing, and much more, has been ordered (or is ready to be), and there is no practical or reasonable way to go back. IT IS TOO LATE!
Why didn’t these obstructionists and troublemakers bring their baseless lawsuit much earlier? Congress never tried, or wanted, to stop the Ballroom Project! Everyone knew what was taking place at the White House — A great, big, beautiful gift to the United States of America!
For those that are interested, the tiny East Wing was so “bastardized” and changed, built and rebuilt over the years, that it bore no resemblance or relationship to the original building.
The so-called “preservationists,” who get their money from the most unusual of places, should not be allowed to stop this desperately needed addition to our GREAT White House, a place that a President has never needed permission to change or enhance, because of the special grounds on which it sits, no matter how big (and important!), that enhancement may be.
Additionally, in this instance, it is being done with the design, consent, and approval of the highest levels of the United States Military and Secret Service. The mere bringing of this ridiculous lawsuit has already, unfortunately, exposed this heretofore Top Secret fact.
Stoppage of construction, at this late date, when so much has already been ordered and done, would be devastating to the White House, our Country, and all concerned. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
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