Justice Department urges group to drop Trump ballroom lawsuit after WHCA dinner shooting

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Sunday pressed the preservation group suing the White House over President Trump’s ballroom project to drop the lawsuit in the wake of Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner.

In a letter posted to social media by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the DOJ pressed for the National Trust for Historic Preservation to drop its “frivolous lawsuit” against the Trump administration after Saturday’s incident, which prompted the evacuation of the president and high-profile administration officials from the gala.

“If your client does not dismiss the lawsuit by 9:00 AM on Monday, the government will move to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the case in light of last night’s extraordinary events,” the letter continues.

Trump on Saturday, speaking to reporters after a gunman exchanged fire with law enforcement at the Washington Hilton where the WHCA hosted its annual dinner, argued the shooting spotlighted the need for a White House ballroom. 

“I didn’t want to say this but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. It’s actually a larger room, and it’s much more secure,” Trump told reporters.

The preservation group filed the lawsuit against the White House over Trump’s ballroom project in December. The group requested an injunction to halt the project and make sure the public had a chance to weigh in.

In a letter in response to the DOJ’s Sunday letter, a lawyer for the preservation group said it would not drop the lawsuit.

In late March, a federal judge paused construction on the ballroom project. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said that no statute “comes close” to giving the president the authority he said he had to go forward with the project, stopping construction until Congress authorized its finalization.

Leon later restricted the project to “below-ground construction,” pushing back on the administration’s arguments that the whole project must proceed due to security reasons. A few days later, a three-judge federal appeals panel allowed construction on the ballroom to go forward into June .

The president has said the ballroom will host a military complex , stating Saturday that the facility will be “drone proof” and have “bulletproof glass.”

“We need the ballroom,” he continued. “That’s why Secret Service, that’s why the military are demanding it.”

“They wanted the ballroom for 150 years for lots of different reasons but today is a little bit different because today we need levels of security that nobody has ever seen before,” he added.

After Saturday’s shooting, a number of Trump allies in Congress have doubled down on the president’s calls for the new ballroom. Several indicated they would file legislation in an effort to get the project across the finish line.

“I’m working with my team to draft legislation ensuring the White House Ballroom is completed,” GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert (Co.) wrote on social media Sunday. “I don’t believe congressional approval is required for the project, but if it’ll keep activist judges on the sideline, so be it. More to come this week.”

Florida Rep. Randy Fine (R), meanwhile, indicated he would introduce a bill titled the Build the Ballroom Act.

“While the lawsuits attempting to stop this privately-funded gift to the country are nonsense, last night makes it clear that we need it — and we need it now,” he wrote on social media . “I look forward to Democrats repudiating their violent rhetoric against President Trump by cosponsoring and supporting this bill. Mr. President, build away.”

In the upper chamber, Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy (R) said he would introduce a bill seeking to do the same.

“It is an embarrassment to the strongest nation on earth that we cannot host gatherings in our nation’s capital, including ones attended by our President, without the threat of violence and attempted assassinations,” Sheehy wrote on the social platform X , calling the ballroom proposal “common sense.”

Updated at 3:41 p.m. EDT

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