Justice Department cites dinner shooting to press preservationists to
drop Trump ballroom suit
[April 27, 2026]
By MEG KINNARD
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is using
the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday to
try to pressure preservationists to drop their lawsuit over his planned
$400 million ballroom on the site of the former East Wing of the White
House.
“It’s time to build the ballroom,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
said plainly Sunday on X, posting a letter in which Assistant Attorney
General Brett Shumate gave the National Trust for Historic Preservation,
which has sued to block construction, until 9 a.m. Monday to dismiss its
lawsuit.
If it doesn't do so, Shumate wrote, the government would ask a court to
do so “in light of last night’s extraordinary events," calling the
Washington Hilton — the site of Saturday's gala — “demonstrably unsafe”
for events with the president “because its size presents extraordinary
security challenges for the Secret Service."
The White House ballroom, Shumate wrote, “will ensure the safety and
security of the President for decades to come and prevent future
assassination attempts on the President at the Washington Hilton.”
Asked about the letter, Elliot Carter, spokesperson for the National
Trust for Historic Preservation, said Sunday the group would review it
with legal counsel.
The preservation group sued in December, a week after the White House
finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump
said would fit 999 people. Trump says the project is funded by private
donations, although public money is paying for the bunker construction
and security upgrades.
A crowd of 2,300 attended Saturday night's event at the Hilton, home to
one of the few rooms in Washington large enough for the event. It packs
in attendees at round tables whose chairs are back to back, and room to
move around is tight. The dinner is not a White House event — it is run
by the White House Correspondents’ Association, a nonprofit organization
of journalists from media outlets that cover the president.
Republicans amp up their push for White House ballroom
For months, Trump has mentioned the ballroom project at nearly every
chance, often talking about the lawsuit or his desire to construct the
space during events on a number of other topics. As he addressed tuxedo-
and ball gown-clad reporters who scurried from the Washington Hilton to
the White House for a Saturday night news conference, Trump called for
tougher security measures and pointed to the incident as a reason his
ballroom is needed.
In the wake of the shooting, Trump, Blanche and a number of supporters
of the administration have taken the opportunity to push for the project
across social media platforms and news programs. Republican Ohio Rep.
Jim Jordan said he agreed with Trump “100%” on the massive White House
construction project, which Jordan said on Fox News Channel “obviously
would be much safer location for these type of events.”
Sunday morning on X, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said he
agreed with Trump that the White House ballroom “is a national security
necessity" that would give the Secret Service “immense control over the
security environment of future events with a very hardened facility.”
Even some Democrats agreed. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who
attended Saturday’s dinner, said on X that the proposed White House
space should be used “for events exactly like these.” On CNN later
Sunday, Fetterman said attendees and Americans overall were in a
“vulnerable” position during Saturday's event, in part because many in
the presidential line of succession were present and could have been
harmed.
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People are seen outside the West Wing driveway entrance of the White
House, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom
Brenner)
Fetterman responded, “I certainly hope so” when asked if the incident
would spark more support for the White House project.
Gate crashers, party crashers, a plane — security breaches at the
White House
In the century-plus since its grounds were largely closed to the public,
dozens of events are evidence that even the White House complex is not
impervious to intrusion.
There have been a number of documented incidents in which people have
scaled security barriers around the White House. One of them, a
disturbed Army veteran carrying a knife, jumped the fence in 2014 and
raced into the White House, making his way into the East Room before
heading back down a hallway on the State Floor deep within the mansion.
A Homeland Security Department review of the case determined that lack
of training, poor staffing decisions and communication problems
contributed to the embarrassing failure that ultimately led to the
resignation of the head of the Secret Service.
In 1994, a pilot died when he crashed a small stolen plane on the South
Lawn, hitting a tree and a first-floor corner of the building. And in
2009, uninvited guests Tareq and Michaele Salahi crashed a state dinner,
passing through security checkpoints and meeting President Barack Obama
in an incident that sparked security investigations.
How is the White House ballroom project going?
In litigation since December, work is ongoing, although there have been
recent hiccups.
Trump tore down the East Wing last fall to build the massive ballroom in
that space. In its lawsuit, the National Trust for Historic Preservation
argued that Trump had overstepped his authority by moving forward with
the project without first getting approval from key federal agencies and
Congress.
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court allowed Trump to continue
construction of the $400 million project, ruling a day after a lower
court judge continued to block above-ground construction on the site and
scheduling a June 5 hearing to review the case. U.S. District Judge
Richard Leon's ruling had blocked above-ground construction of the
90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom addition, while
allowing only below-ground work to continue on a bunker and other
“national security facilities” at the site.
On Fox News Channel on Sunday, Trump forecast that, by the end of his
current term, his project would be complete.
“In the year '28 you’re going to have something, you’re going to have a
ballroom, the top of the line, security,” Trump said. “You’re not going
to have problems.”
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