{"id":2520587,"date":"2025-12-12T13:16:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T18:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/national-trust-sues-trump-over-white-house-ballroom\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T13:16:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T18:16:46","slug":"national-trust-sues-trump-over-white-house-ballroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/national-trust-sues-trump-over-white-house-ballroom\/","title":{"rendered":"National Trust sues Trump over White House ballroom"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnational-trust-sues-trump-over-white-house-ballroom%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2520587&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The National Trust for Historic Preservation has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump over his construction of a large ballroom at the White House, marking the first legal challenge too the project. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District court for the district of Columbia, argues that Trump has <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >bypassed required regulatory reviews<\/a> and congressional approval for the construction, which involves demolishing the White House&#8217;s East Wing and expanding the footprint to about 90,000 square feet-almost twice the size of the main building.Greg Craig, who served as white House counsel under Barack Obama and was on Bill Clinton&#8217;s impeachment defense team, is representing the National Trust pro bono. Trump has claimed the $300 million project is privately funded by donors and companies like Amazon and Lockheed Martin.the National Trust contends that no president has the legal authority to alter the White House without proper oversight, emphasizing that their lawsuit aims to preserve American history and ensure public input in the process. White House officials have dismissed the suit and criticized the National Trust as politically motivated.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Former Obama and Clinton lawyer representing lawsuit over Trump&rsquo;s ballroom<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2441882\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The nonprofit organization National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit against President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3912580\/trump-affordability-speech-pennsylvania\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> Friday afternoon, mounting the first legal challenge to his construction of a gargantuan ballroom at the White House.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Trump has steadily altered the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3915253\/white-house-us-intends-seize-oil-onboard-impounded-venezuela-tanker\/\">White House<\/a> decor throughout his first year back in office, which includes the replacement of the famous Rose Garden with a new outdoor patio, but the massive ballroom project has become the crown jewel of his redesigns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3916203\/lieutenant-governor-trump-administration-indiana-redistricting-failure\/\">Lieutenant governor warns Trump administration won&#8217;t see Indiana as &#8216;good partner&#8217; after redistricting failure<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3916060\/omb-directs-ai-vendors-seeking-government-contracts-measure-models-political-bias\/\">OMB directs AI vendors seeking government contracts to measure their model&#8217;s political bias<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3911096\/trump-administration-pushes-diplomacy-israel-syria-lebanon\/\">Trump administration pushes diplomacy between Israel and a pair of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-admin-pushes-diplomacy-between-israel-and-a-pair-of-long-hostile-neighbors\/\" title=\"... admin pushes diplomacy between Israel and a pair of long-hostile neighbors\">long-hostile neighbors<\/a><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The lawsuit was filed Friday morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Greg Craig, who was White House counsel under former President Barack Obama and on former President Bill Clinton&rsquo;s impeachment defense team, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-spotlights-democrat-aligned-prosecutors-these-are-all-biden-trials\/\" title=\"... highlights prosecutors aligned with Democrats, calling them &quot;Biden trials\">working pro bono<\/a> on the National Trust&rsquo;s behalf.<\/p>\n<p>Since breaking ground on the project in October, Trump has repeatedly raised the estimated budget, which now hovers around $300 million, but he has said it will be entirely privately funded by individual donors, including himself, as well as large American companies such as Amazon and Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\n<p>Though <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3910969\/trump-changes-tune-releasing-second-strike-footage\/\">Trump<\/a> originally billed the project as a small addition to the existing White House, the newly estimated footprint is expected to be 90,000 square feet, nearly twice the size of the main building. Furthermore, the expanded buildout required the complete demolition of the White House&rsquo;s East Wing.<\/p>\n<p>The National Trust argues that Trump has illegally rushed the construction timeline for the project, skirting regulatory reviews and failing to seek congressional authorization, despite the legislative branch&rsquo;s Constitutional authority to manage properties on federal lands.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever &mdash; not President Trump, not President Joe Biden, and not anyone else,&rdquo; the suit reads.<\/p>\n<p>White House officials declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday morning, though they previously slammed the National Trust for criticism the organization expressed after the groundbreaking in October.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The National Trust for Historic Preservation is run by a bunch of loser Democrats and liberal donors who are playing political games,&rdquo; White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote in a statement on X at the time.<\/p>\n<p>National Trust CEO Carol Quillen told the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2025\/12\/12\/trump-ballroom-lawsuit-construction\/\"><em>Washington Post<\/em><\/a>  that she isn&rsquo;t personally opposed to the idea of building a White House ballroom, as long as it does not dwarf the existing flow of the grounds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>She claimed that the lawsuit is a &ldquo;last resort&rdquo; to &ldquo;preserve American history.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3914318\/all-bark-no-bite-trump-work-needed-win-affordability-war\/\"><strong>&lsquo;ALL BARK, NO BITE&rsquo;: TRUMP STILL HAS &lsquo;A WAYS TO GO&rsquo; BEFORE WINNING AFFORDABILITY WAR<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We serve the people, and the people are not being served in this process,&rdquo; Quillen claimed. &ldquo;Following the process and enabling public input often results in a better project outcome.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ex-Obama lawyer sues Trump over massive White House ballroom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2645,"featured_media":2520588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25343672587422.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[64980,44332,68721,53335,65972],"class_list":["post-2520587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-historic-preservation","tag-legal-dispute","tag-national-trust","tag-trump-lawsuit","tag-white-house-ballroom"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25343672587422.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2520587"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2520591,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2520587\/revisions\/2520591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2520588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2520587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2520587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2520587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}