Government lawyers for President Trump have requested an urgent ruling from an appeals court to allow the construction of the White House East Wing to resume. This request comes after a lower court judge stopped the construction earlier this week. The government argues that stopping the construction puts the president and White House staff at risk of serious national security threats.
The legal filing revealed that the White House addition will have security features such as missile-resistant steel columns, drone-proof roofing materials, bomb shelters, a hospital, protective partitioning, and Top Secret Military installations. President Trump described the 1,000-seat ballroom as a “shed” for an underground military bunker.
The court filing is marked by exclamation points, capital letters, and emphatic adjectives similar to the president’s social media posts. It also highlights that private donors and American Patriots funded the project without taxpayer dollars.
Federal judge Richard Leon issued a preliminary injunction last week, halting the ballroom construction until the government obtains congressional approval. The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed the lawsuit in December.
The administration has appealed the ruling and suggested that the case could go to the Supreme Court if construction does not resume.
