A Secret Service official involved in the construction of President Donald Trump’s massive new White House ballroom said Monday that any temporary pause on the project could hamper the agency’s ability to carry out its protective mission.
The warning – made in a sworn statement by USSS Deputy Director Matthew Quinn – comes a day before a federal judge in Washington, DC, is set hold an emergency hearing to consider whether to order the White House to pause work on the ballroom pending a lawsuit challenging how the project has unfolded thus far.
Quinn, who oversees USSS’ role in the ballroom project, said a contractor involved in the construction is still working to provide temporary security and safety measures around the site and that “any pause in construction, even temporarily, would leave the contractor’s obligation unfulfilled … and consequently hamper the Secret Service’s ability to meet its statutory obligations and protective mission.”
The lawsuit filed last week by the nation’s top historic preservation group claims Trump is pursuing the project unlawfully because he hasn’t gotten approval from Congress or submitted his plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts for review, which would give the public a chance to weigh in.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is asking Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, to issue a temporary restraining order that would pause any further work on the ballroom until Congress authorizes it, the commissions review it and environmental assessments are completed.
In a separate sworn statement filed by the government in the case on Monday, an official with the National Park Service, which is a named defendant in the case, revealed that above-ground work on the ballroom would not begin until at least April and said that efforts were underway for the White House to coordinate with the pair of commissions.
That official, John Stanwich, noted that the Commission on Fine Arts does not currently have a quorum but that “plans are underway to appoint new members” to it. The White House fired all six members of the commission in October, CNN previously reported, amid Trump’s push to impose his style on the nation’s capital through a slate of construction projects, including the ballroom.
The declaration also confirms the White House plans to bring the project before the National Capital Planning Commission before vertical construction begins, as officials have previously said.
The declaration from Stanwich, who is the NPS’ liaison to the White House, gave the most thorough public accountings yet of the work that was undertaken before construction crews tore down the historic East Wing of the White House this fall, prompting outrage among Democrats and preservationists.
Stanwich said that in August and September his staff worked with the White House to “identify and remove museum objects, including paintings and historic furniture, from the East Wing, East Colonnade, and the Ground Floor State Rooms of the White House to be stored or curated” off-site.
Crews also worked to salvage “historic materials” from the East Wing before it was torn down, Stanwich said, which included “stone columns, doors, and other items that are planned to be reincorporated into the new facility.”
Extensive documentation of the East Wing was undertaken pre-demolition, he told the court, through photography and the creation of a 3D scan of the building to create “a digital twin … for future preservation and interpretive purposes.”
The massive project, Stanwich said, has caused a ripple effect across the White House’s professional and historic spaces. Public-facing parts of the building that used to be stops on White House tours, including the famous China Room, are now being used as office spaces.
“If progress on the project were halted, this would prolong these impacts to the experiences of Park visitors,” he told the court.
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