Justice Department Calls to Drop Ballroom Suit After Gala Attack
Source: Bloomberg Law
A top Justice Department official demanded that a historic preservationalist group drop its challenge to Donald Trumps White House ballroom project, following an attempted attack Saturday at a Washington gala the president attended.
Brett Shumate, who leads the Justice Departments civil division, gave an attorney for the National Trust for Historic Preservation until 9 a.m. Monday for his client to voluntarily dismiss its lawsuit challenging construction of a 90,00-square foot ballroom on the site of the demolished East Wing.
Put simply, your lawsuit puts the lives of the President, his family, and his staff at grave risk, Shumate wrote in the letter. I hope yesterdays narrow miss will help you finally realize the folly of a lawsuit that literally serves no purpose except to stop President Trump no matter the cost.
The letter, addressed to Gregory Craig of Foley Hoag, was posted on X on Sunday by acting attorney general Todd Blanche, the day after an armed suspect attempted to enter a Washington hotel ballroom during the annual White House Correspondents dinner. Trump attended the dinner for the first time as president, alongside other top administration officials, and was expected to deliver a speech.
Shumate said in his letter that a completed ballroom would mean future presidents will no longer need to venture beyond the safety of the White House perimeter to attend large gatherings at the Washington Hilton ballroom.
Read more: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/justice-department-calls-to-drop-ballroom-suit-after-gala-attack
Link to tweet
?s=20
bluestarone
(22,352 posts)Trueblue1968
(19,297 posts)wcmagumba
(6,483 posts)Attilatheblond
(9,100 posts)Bet he's not giving up golf, just hotel ballrooms. Yeah, sure.
More and more we see reasons for last night being a MIHOP incident.
LetMyPeopleVote
(181,015 posts)This idiot DOJ lawyer should be embarrassed for signing his name to this letter
Link to tweet

Akakoji
(544 posts)Someone had made this shit up. Todd is one ambitious little POS.
RussBLib
(10,692 posts)....until you think about the fact that the president leaves the "perimeter" of the White House multiple times per month. Oh no, how could he possibly be protected if he is not in the perimeter of the White House?!?!
BTW, how secure is Mar-A-Lago?
https://russblib.blogspot.com
JustABozoOnThisBus
(24,706 posts)... that we can keep top secret documents in the bathrooms for light reading.
RussBLib
(10,692 posts)Evildoers, to quote Bush, can easily come up with that much money, in a snap.
https://russblib.blogspot.com
Attilatheblond
(9,100 posts)Oh wait, that already happened.
JBTaurus83
(1,579 posts)How would it be more secure than any other building that the President is in? Hes out playing golf nearly every weekend. Someone could just fly drones with explosives into the course.
greatauntoftriplets
(179,231 posts)...maybe he should just resign to save his life. It's ridiculous to expect that every event that the president attends must be held in an unbuilt ballroom. And would his prices for use of the ballroom be more or less expensive than Washington, DC, hotel ballrooms?
SunSeeker
(58,351 posts)The dude did not even get on the same floor as the dinner. Nothing different would have happened if the dinner was in that awful ballroom.
dalton99a
(94,861 posts)BigmanPigman
(55,400 posts)Sorry Spike, it's not an insult, it's a compliment.
Doy-uh!
mzmolly
(52,825 posts)Supposedly he was reluctant to call it a night after gun shots rang out at the WHCD, yet we're to believe he needs a ballroom for his protection?
Skittles
(172,327 posts)eppur_se_muova
(42,224 posts)Bengus81
(10,280 posts)My azzzz...and how many events would Melanie be under "contract" to attend?
Response to Bengus81 (Reply #14)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Bengus81
(10,280 posts)in just one month. Such bullshit every day...........
0rganism
(25,684 posts)Next up: the pussy-grabbing. When you're a president, we let you do it.
KT2000
(22,182 posts)but I guess they think all Americans are stupid.
Akakoji
(544 posts)Trump needs to be arrested for this ballroom con. He stole our money.
wcmagumba
(6,483 posts)or will he ever be out of office? AI could probably put together a virtual T-rump that could last 100 years or so...scary...
Nigrum Cattus
(1,345 posts)less than 24 hours later they have a plan to push forward ?
no investigation into exactly what happened
70sEraVet
(5,554 posts)And would have been much easier to secure than the gigantic monstrosity that has wants to build!
Make him build it back, just as it was -- and be sure to use his 'donor' money to do it!
SheltieLover
(81,390 posts)Dave Bowman
(7,328 posts)William Seger
(12,507 posts)Historic NY
(40,107 posts)Just because a ball room is being built doesn't make it safe , it just makes it a bigger target.
SunSeeker
(58,351 posts)The Hilton ballroom, where the WHC dinner was held, was filled, and it seats 2,945 people. Trump says his proposed ballroom will seat only 999. Plus, a judge has permitted the construction of the secure facility under the ballroom to continue despite the lawsuit; its just the ballroom itself that plaintiffs are seeking to block. So this incident was not a basis for saying there is a security argument for building Trumps ugly ballroom.
SomewhereInTheMiddle
(667 posts)But I'd imagine his response would be "We could fit it in the ballroom if we kicked out all the reporters."
That would be his ideal - not only owning the venue but controlling the invite list - "sorry Mr. Obama, security says you can't attend the dinner in your honor."
It is essential he have something that no other president has ever had, or needed.
Sigh.
Historic NY
(40,107 posts)dumbass didn't know it was there until the started to wreck it. It was mainly a secret
https://www.twz.com/21026/white-house-sinkhole-is-a-reminder-of-the-bunkers-that-are-buried-beneath-it]
Then, in 2010, part of the North Lawn adjacent to the West Wing of the White House was dug up and barriers were erected around the hole to hide part of a highly secretive a $375M construction project from the prying eyes of the very nearby media.
There are several bunker the ballroom was the FDR/ Truman atomic bomb upgrade one.
electric_blue68
(27,061 posts)Picaro
(2,407 posts)The linkage between these two very different things that are basically not related.
Rhiannon12866
(257,369 posts)Since he's been in charge of planning the White House Correspondents' Dinner before. And he said there is no way that a gathering of journalists would ever agree to hold their annual gala in Trump's ballroom - which, BTW, he still is legally forbidden to build.
travelingthrulife
(5,434 posts)Do we have to build a secure wrestling arena too? Secure football field for when he wants to watch a game? Secure child rape room?
Nonsense thinking.
LetMyPeopleVote
(181,015 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(181,015 posts)Its really not the DOJs job to tell private litigants enough is enough because the president doesnt want to be inconvenienced by the legal process.
Link to tweet
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-justice-department-joins-ballroom-lobbying-campaign
Trumps Justice Department evidently noticed. From the MS NOW report:
The Justice Department demanded the National Trust for Historic Preservation drop its lawsuit against the construction of the ballroom.
When the White House ballroom is complete, President Trump and his successors will no longer need to venture beyond the safety of the White House perimeter to attend large gatherings at the Washington Hilton ballroom, [the DOJ] asserted in a letter Sunday.
In the same one-page letter, Brett Shumate, the DOJ Civil Divisions assistant attorney general, added, Put simply, your lawsuit puts the lives of the President, his family, and his staff at grave risk. Enough is enough.
He demanded the National Trust for Historic Preservation voluntarily dismiss this frivolous lawsuit today in light of last nights assassination attempt on President Trump. If your client does not dismiss the lawsuit by 9:00 AM on Monday, the government will move to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the case in light of last nights extraordinary events.....
We didnt necessarily need fresh evidence of Main Justice acting like an extension of the Oval Office and the presidents wishes, but Shumate and Blanche offered up a new example on Sunday anyway.
LetMyPeopleVote
(181,015 posts)The request to drop this lawsuit was so stupid that it is sad. The lawyers in the DOJ who made that request should be embarrassed.
Let the Baby have his candy IF, and only if, we can name it âThe Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Ballroomâ ððº(via @apnews.com) National Trust says it won't drop suit against Trump's 0M White House ballroom after DOJ request
— Toke Up #СлаваУкÑаÑÐ½Ñ #ÐеÑоÑмСлава Kill Nazis ð» (@tokeupkillnazis.bsky.social) 2026-04-27T21:29:31.343Z
https://apnews.com/article/white-house-ballroom-donald-trump-lawsuit-bcbe5b42723fcae1870d55b5921404b5
Trump and other conservatives have made a renewed push for the ballroom in the wake of Saturdays media dinner shooting, arguing it exposed the difficulties in ensuring presidential security at large events outside the White House grounds, and urging the National Trust for Historic Preservation to drop its lawsuit.
Top Justice officials said the government would ask a court to dismiss the lawsuit in light of last nights extraordinary events if the Trust did not voluntarily drop it.
Trust attorney Gregory Craig declined that request, writing to the Justice Department that the legal issues at the heart of the lawsuit are unchanged.
What Saturdays awful event does not change is that the Constitution and multiple federal statutes require Congress to authorize construction of a ballroom on White House grounds, and that Congress has not done so, Craig wrote.

