President Donald Trump believes calamity will come to Washington, D.C. if his ballroom isn’t finished on time, and he threatened to hold a federal judge who is stalling its completion accountable.
In a Sunday Truth Social post, Trump insisted that Judge Richard Leon — who ruled in April that the president lacked legal authority to proceed with his ballroom project — would be held responsible for the “Death and Destruction” that will apparently occur if the building is stalled.
“Judge Richard Leon should stop playing games with America’s Security! If anything happens, he will be held responsible for the Death and Destruction caused to our Country,” Trump wrote on Sunday.
“With the advent of highly sophisticated, and powerful, modern day weaponry, we can no longer defend Washington, D.C., with rifles and pistols, alone. This ridiculous lawsuit must be dismissed, IMMEDIATELY!” he added.
Washington, D.C. is not defended solely by “pistols and rifles” — the Joint Air Defense Operations Center oversees the air defense mission in the nation’s capital, and the Navy and Coast Guard defend the surrounding waters.
Trump said his $400 million ballroom will double as a “droneport” in the heart of the nation’s capital, which he argued was critical to the country’s security.
“The DronePort at the White House Ballroom will be, perhaps, the most sophisticated anywhere in the World! It will safeguard our Nation’s Capital, Washington, D.C., long into the future,” Trump added Sunday, sharing AI-generated images of the proposed security measure.
It follows claims Trump made Saturday to his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, on Fox News that the ballroom would be the “most secure facility ever built.”
Leon’s ruling in April included an injunction that halted the “above-ground construction of the planned ballroom,” though an appeal shortly after the ruling temporarily blocked the injunction until June.
Trump isn’t the only one putting pressure on Leon to drop the injunction; the Justice Department has capitalized on a recent shooting near the White House and the White House Correspondents’ Dinner to argue that the ballroom is critical to maintaining the president’s safety.
“In light of the recent attacks against President Trump’s life — including two attempts in less than a month — the injunction entered by this Court for the benefit of a strolling woman, who filed suit against the East Wing Project long before she knew what was going to be built (This is a woman who is a known serial plaintiff throughout Washington, D.C.), and who has absolutely no standing, must be immediately vacated, and this suit, which is a complete embarrassment to our Country, must be dismissed,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a filing.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, whose complaint led to Leon’s injunction, said it will not drop its lawsuit.
