this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
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‘I’m struggling to see this as an ‘alteration’,’ judge said amid lawsuit seeking to halt construction until president has won congressional approval

A federal judge has slammed Donald Trump’s demolition of the White House’s East Wing, and plan to build a $400m ballroom where it once stood, as “brazen”, and has indicated he might terminate the project later this month.

“I’m struggling to see this as an ‘alteration’,” Judge Richard Leon said Tuesday during a hearing in a lawsuit brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation seeking to halt construction until the president has won congressional approval and passed independent reviews.

White House lawyers have argued that Trump does not need outside permission to pursue the project, which began with demolition of the East Wing in October, and which he aims to complete by 2028.

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 6 points 6 days ago

just like his library that suddenly dissolved overnight, this was always a money laundering scheme.

[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

"Judge pretends he has a spine and then does nothing"

The orange shitgibbon is going to do whatever he wants anyways-- just like a sex offender would say.

I look forward to having the WH bulldozed someday. You'll never get the stink out.

[–] outerspace@lemmy.zip 4 points 6 days ago

Indicated AND slammed? Wow, we could say it's 99% terminated at this point

[–] redsand@infosec.pub 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It's a stupid Oracle™ Stargate datacenter. The footprint, sponsors, power upgrades to that part of the city. Even cost and architect.

Depends if Trump throws money at the judge, or not, I guess. Or finds a way to blackmail him.

Even if the decision goes against him, Trump will go ahead and get it built anyway, because nobody is enforcing the law when it comes to Trump anymore.

Also, he'll stiff the contractors. Fuck knows why anyone does building/renovation work for that guy.

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 1 points 6 days ago

I can't wait till the next president has a fucking remove all of the garbage that Trump is building and put the White House back together the way it was before. Our tax dollars at work there.

[–] aramis87@fedia.io 70 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Funny how the price has gone from 200m to 300m and now 400m - gee, I wonder where that money has come from and disappeared to.

which he aims to complete by 2028.

So he has to live with the noise of construction for three and a half years and gets to enjoy it for maybe 2-3 months? Not the actions of a person who's planning on voluntarily leaving office.

[–] Kirp123@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago

He lives at Mar-a-Lago, what construction noise? Pretty sure he only comes to the White House to meet foreign officials, renovate the bathrooms and film dumb videos.

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

Assuming he even lives to see it complete. Come on, Trump's arteries! Do what God intended!

[–] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 11 points 1 week ago

He spends the majority of his time in Florida, he's barely ever there.

[–] ManixT@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Don't forget that the ballroom is a cover for the actual construction happening underground. The funds available for that construction are able to be appropriated secretly through department of defense budgets and contracts too. It's really going to be way more than that.

I usually hate video format analysis or news, but this is an interesting analysis to watch: https://youtu.be/VbJ4ilDvGyc

Thanks for sharing. That was honestly interesting.

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

It also wasn't supposed to touch the Whitehouse and then suddenly the whole damn east wing was gone.

[–] pentastarm@piefed.ca 48 points 1 week ago
[–] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 36 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Just another slumlord getting slapped by planning permission. Never changes.

Not that the White House is a slum - Trump is second generation slumlord.

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 1 points 6 days ago

Hey, at least he's finally doing something he's an expert at instead of completely incompetent at.

[–] NullPointerException@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Let him build and, in a few years, renovate and rename to “ The Obama ballroom”.

[–] P1nkman@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

And remove all the fucking gold. God dammit, I used to dislike gold, until Trump did some changes in the white house during his first term, and it made me fucking hate gold, because I hate him so much.

[–] Gerudo@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If we somehow manage to get another president, they should turn the spot into some super woke DEI shit just to piss off the right.

And since he likes putting his name on things, he can even have his name on it!

The Donald J Trump Presidential Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Multicultural Education, and Outreach. A partner of NAACP, the Native Americans Rights Fund, GLSEN, MAPA, PBS, and NPR.

[–] Auk@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I love when the Trump administration gets SLAMMED. Boo-yah.

[–] P1nkman@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Yeah, he'd better watch out, or he might get a stern letter with a warning to stop it.

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 8 points 1 week ago

Given how Trump has changed his mind on this war stuff so many times lately, I misread the title as him shutting it down.

[–] ChristerMLB@piefed.social 7 points 1 week ago

it would be nice if this turned out to be a huge and very public battle