The National Trust for Historic Preservation refused to drop its lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom, even after calls to end the legal dispute following the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner over the weekend.
Trump on Sunday said the dinner shooting would have “never” happened if it were held in the planned ballroom, as it will include a military bunker, and said the venue “cannot be built fast enough.”
Gregory Craig, a lawyer representing the preservation group, said that Trump’s assessment of the incident on Saturday is inaccurate, adding that the lawsuit does not put the president’s safety in jeopardy.
“Your assertion that this lawsuit put the President’s life at ‘grave risk’ is incorrect and irresponsible,” Craig wrote in a letter first reported by the Washington Post. “Simply put, this case does not jeopardize the President’s safety in any way.”
Craig’s letter is in response to one sent by the Department of Justice, urging the group to drop its lawsuit and allow ballroom construction to resume.
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“I hope yesterday’s narrow miss will help you finally realize the folly of a lawsuit that literally serves no purpose except to stop President Trump no matter the cost,” Civil Division Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate wrote in a letter to Craig. “Enough is enough. Your client should voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit today in light of last night’s assassination attempt on President Trump.”
Shumate had given Craig until 9 a.m. Monday to drop the case, or face action from the DOJ to “dissolve the injunction and dismiss the case.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche shared Shumate’s letter and ripped the lawsuit as one of “aesthetic gripe.”
“This lawsuit is on behalf of a single person who walks in the vicinity of the White House once a month and expects to dislike the East Wing’s new design,” Blanche said. “The passing aesthetic gripe of a single person cannot possibly justify delaying the construction of a secure facility for the President to do his job.”
The shooting took place at the Washington Hilton ballroom on Saturday when the alleged gunman charged a security checkpoint and shot a Secret Service agent in the lobby of the hotel, just outside of the main room where Trump, his Cabinet members, their families, and thousands of journalists were gathered for the annual dinner. The agent was not seriously injured.
The 31-year-old suspect, identified as Cole Allen, was taken into custody as authorities investigate the incident and is set to be arraigned on Monday.
Shumate, in his letter, emphasized the importance of the ballroom in that it will ensure “President Trump and his successors will no longer need to venture beyond the safety of the White House perimeter to attend large gatherings at the Washington Hilton ballroom,” which he said is “demonstrably unsafe.”
It’s unlikely the event would have been held in the White House ballroom if it had been built by then.
The lawsuit, brought on by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, started in March, when District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush, temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with construction of the nearly $400 million ballroom.
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The DOJ subsequently filed an emergency appeal, asking the federal appeals court to halt the lower court’s order that paused construction, which was granted.
Leon later permitted below-ground and surrounding construction to resume, but his ruling was eventually blocked by a D.C. appeals court, which allowed all construction to resume until at least early June.