DOJ Claims That Trump's $400 Million Ballroom Is Necessary For National Security

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Huff Post

Feb 3, 2026, 01:10 PM EST | Updated 12 minutes ago


Facing an imminent district court decision that could halt construction on President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project, Department of Justice lawyers are now indicating that they will appeal any adverse decision by arguing that the proposed ballroom has “national security implications.”

“If the Court ultimately enjoins the East Wing Modernization and State Ballroom Project,” the Trump administration would “immediately appeal that order,” Justice Department lawyers said in a court filing on Monday. “Given the exigencies involved in suspending a major ongoing construction project with national security implications, Defendants are filing this motion in advance of any ruling, to avoid an emergency situation or at least to facilitate expedited proceedings on appeal.” The administration claimed that building a permanent space for large events would increase security.

The case came to the D.C. district court after the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States sued to stop construction of the ballroom following the surprise demolition of the White House’s East Wing. The trust argued that the project was illegal as the administration failed to properly notify and involve Congress, the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission on Fine Arts and did not conduct proper environmental assessments.

This isn’t the first invocation of national security in the ongoing lawsuit over Trump’s ballroom. It is, however, the most direct explanation of how the administration plans to get an appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule a decision that halts construction on the president’s premier vanity project.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-ballroom-court_n_698230bce4b00e89c72e3c11?origin=home-latest-news-unit

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Link to FILING (PDF) - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.287645/gov.uscourts.dcd.287645.39.0.pdf

[Initech]

1. No it isn't. It's necessary for his ego and that's it.

[quaint]

2. Presidential Emergency Operations Center

World War II
The original White House bunker was built during World War II to protect President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the event of an aerial attack on Washington, D.C. It was continually upgraded during its operational life.

The PEOC space has modern communications equipment, including televisions and phones to coordinate with outside government entities. During a breach of White House security, including violations of the Washington, D.C., Air Defense Identification Zone (P-56 airspace), the president and other protectees are relocated to the executive briefing room, next to the PEOC. Day to day, the PEOC is staffed around the clock by joint-service military officers and non-commissioned officers.

September 11 attacks
During the September 11 attacks, a number of key personnel were evacuated from their offices in the White House to the PEOC. These included Vice President Dick Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush, Lynne Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Mary Matalin, "Scooter" Libby, Joshua Bolten, Karen Hughes, Stephen Hadley, David Addington, Secret Service agents, U.S. Army major and White House Fellow Mike Fenzel, and other staff including Norman Mineta. President George W. Bush was visiting a school in Florida at the time of the attacks.

May 29, 2020
President Donald Trump retreated to the PEOC during the night of May 29, 2020, at the beginning of the George Floyd protests.

After his time in the bunker was reported in the news, Trump demanded that officials find and prosecute those responsible for the information getting to the press.[6] Trump's secretary of defense, Mark Esper, described in his 2022 book that Trump stated the person who leaked his whereabouts "should be tried for treason and should be executed"

Planned replacement
In 2025, CBS reported that the PEOC was planned to be upgraded by the White House Military Office.

In January 2026, CNN reported that the PEOC had been demolished, along with the rest of the East Wing, to make way for a new facility with more modern technology. Little is known about the upgrades, but White House director of management and administration Joshua Fisher stated at the National Capital Planning Commission that the project will deliver "resilient, adaptive infrastructure aligned with future mission needs." While the technology inside PEOC had been upgraded throughout the decades, the infrastructure still dated to the 1940s.

wikipedia

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I think it was known that there was an OPs center there

but the problem with 45 is his now basically putting a big bright target on the facility, if it ever gets completed, due to the vanity project above it.

[quaint]

7. Quite right, big ol' target, wtf?

[BumRushDaShow]

10. I remember during 9/11

They had Shrub in AF1 flying all over the place in circles with Darth Cheney "in an undisclosed location". IOW, they had to implement "a plan for real" due to courses where those jets were being flown (and one did go into the Pentagon).

I think the one that was brought down here in PA ( "Flight 93" ) was targeting the Capitol, so that was a serious concern.

I expect there are "bunkers" all over the place.

[Gore1FL]

6. If it was necessary for National Security the East wing shouldn't have been demolished.

By their own admission, Trump endangered National Security through his acts of destruction.
His solution to rectify the problem is as inappropriate as his decision to cause it.

[sheshe2]

3. The ballroom ...

With all its secret donors IS THE THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY!!!!

[C_U_L8R]

4. More like a security blanket

To please the petulant brat in the Oval.

[chouchou]

8. When the Ballroom is finished, I'd like to fill it with 30 grown Honey Badgers.

They can .."Welcome" the patrons. (I've heard they're very playful)

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. I would hate to be the lawyer making that argument

That is the type of claim that will follow a lawyer around for a long time. I am amused that there are lawyers willing to make that claim

[twodogsbarking]

11. The bawlroom will go on.

Waaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!

[mdbl]

12. Why? So he can hide classified files in that bathroom instead of mar-a-lardo?

What a bunch of jackasses.