The on-again, off-again legal fight between the president and “historic preservationists” over a new White House dance floor was on again Thursday.
For a second time, a federal judge told President Trump to stop work on a new ballroom except for underground national-security bunker updates.
Judge Richard Leon had previously issued an order halting the $400 million project until the White House got it approved by Congress, with an exception for “actions strictly necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House and its grounds.”
Trump claims then since the project is privately funded he doesn’t need congressional approval.
The president won a partial victory recently when an appeals court ordered Leon to review his earlier order.
Leon on Thursday blasted Trump for trying to circumvent the national-security limits in his recent order by allegedly claiming ballroom work entails improving security.
“It is, to say the least, incredible, if not disingenuous, that defendants now argue that my order does not stop ballroom construction because of the safety-and-security exception!” Leon wrote Thursday, exclamation mark included.
He told Trump once again to limit work to the underground bunkers well the legal arguments over the rest of the ballroom continue.
The president blasted Leon on social media, calling him a “Trump hating” judge “who has gone out of his way to undermine national security.”
Trump’s Ballroom Battle Goes Another Round As Angry Judge Again Orders President To Stop Construction
By Ted Cohen
