‘I’m struggling to see this as an ‘alteration’,’ judge said amid lawsuit seeking to halt construction until president has won congressional approval

A federal judge has slammed Donald Trump’s demolition of the White House’s East Wing, and plan to build a $400m ballroom where it once stood, as “brazen”, and has indicated he might terminate the project later this month.

“I’m struggling to see this as an ‘alteration’,” Judge Richard Leon said Tuesday during a hearing in a lawsuit brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation seeking to halt construction until the president has won congressional approval and passed independent reviews.

White House lawyers have argued that Trump does not need outside permission to pursue the project, which began with demolition of the East Wing in October, and which he aims to complete by 2028.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
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    5 days ago

    Funny how the price has gone from 200m to 300m and now 400m - gee, I wonder where that money has come from and disappeared to.

    which he aims to complete by 2028.

    So he has to live with the noise of construction for three and a half years and gets to enjoy it for maybe 2-3 months? Not the actions of a person who’s planning on voluntarily leaving office.

    • Kirp123@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      He lives at Mar-a-Lago, what construction noise? Pretty sure he only comes to the White House to meet foreign officials, renovate the bathrooms and film dumb videos.

    • Lemmyng@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Assuming he even lives to see it complete. Come on, Trump’s arteries! Do what God intended!

    • ManixT@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      Don’t forget that the ballroom is a cover for the actual construction happening underground. The funds available for that construction are able to be appropriated secretly through department of defense budgets and contracts too. It’s really going to be way more than that.

      I usually hate video format analysis or news, but this is an interesting analysis to watch: https://youtu.be/VbJ4ilDvGyc

    • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      It also wasn’t supposed to touch the Whitehouse and then suddenly the whole damn east wing was gone.