Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Trump administration is arguing that a judge’s order to halt construction of a $400-million ballroom creates a security risk for President Trump as it asks a federal appeals court to pause the ruling.
In a motion filed on April 3, National Park Service lawyers say that the federal judge’s order to suspend construction of the East Wing ballroom is “threatening grave nationalsecurity harms to the White House, the President and his family, and the President’s staff.
“Time is of the essence!” the lawyers write, citing materials that will be installed to make a “heavily fortified” facility. The ballroom construction also includes bomb shelters, military installations and a medical facility, according to the filing.
US District Judge Richard Leon in Washington recently ordered the temporary pause of the construction project that has included demolishing the East Wing of the White House. He concluded that unless Congress approves the project, the preservationist group suing to stop it is likely to succeed on the merits of its claims because “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have.”
