Trump sued over White House ballroom construction

A nonprofit group tasked with preserving U.S. historical sites sued President Donald Trump on Friday, seeking to halt construction of his massive White House ballroom until the project receives the proper federal approvals.

“No president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever — not President Trump, not President Biden, and not anyone else,” the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States said in the lawsuit in Washington federal court.

“And no president is legally allowed to construct a ballroom on public property without giving the public the opportunity to weigh in,” the suit said.

The suit argues that Trump was legally required to secure reviews and approvals before demolishing the historic East Wing of the White House and beginning to build the 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

Those reviews “should have taken place before the Defendants demolished the East Wing, and before they began construction of the Ballroom,” the suit says.

The trust is asking a judge to declare that the project violates multiple laws, including the Administrative Procedure Act.

The group also seeks a court-ordered work stoppage “until the necessary federal commissions have reviewed and approved the project’s plans; adequate environmental review has been conducted; and Congress has authorized the Ballroom’s construction.”

Later Friday, Judge Richard Leon set a hearing for Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. ET on the trust’s motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would block further development on the ballroom.

In addition to Trump, other defendants in the case are the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the General Services Administration and their respective agency heads.

White House spokesman David Ingle told CNBC in a statement, “President Trump has full legal authority to modernize, renovate, and beautify the White House — just like all of his predecessors did.”