WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is pressing for the dismissal of preservationists’ lawsuit over the planned $400 million White House ballroom after the shooting at Saturday’s media gala. But its latest court filing reads more like a Truth Social post from the president than a document crafted by government lawyers.
The filing submitted Monday by the Justice Department is chock-full of the kind of Trumpian touches the president uses in written
communication, from erratic capitalization, exclamation points, non sequiturs, rhetorical questions, praise for the president and accusations that his opponents are insane.
The 16-page filing, which was signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and submitted by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, is a sign of the extraordinary degree to which the president has demolished the wall of independence that the Justice Department has historically had separating itself from the White House.
"The National Trust for Historic Preservation' is a beautiful name, but even their name is FAKE because when they add the words ‘in the United States’ to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it makes it sound like a Governmental Agency, which it is not," the filing's first sentence reads.
The Trust sued in December after the White House demolished the East Wing to make room for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people. Trump says the project is funded by private donations, but public money is paying for security upgrades and an underground bunker.
The Trust argues in its lawsuit that Trump overstepped his authority by moving forward with the project without getting approval from Congress and key federal agencies.
Trump and Republicans have made a renewed push for the ballroom in the wake of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday, arguing it showed the need to have a secure facility for large events. The Justice Department asked the Trust to withdraw its complaint, but it has declined.
“What Saturday’s 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,” the Trust's attorney Gregory Craig wrote in a reply to the government.
The Justice Department on Monday said the court should dismiss the lawsuit, saying it “greatly endangers the lives of all Presidents, current and future.”
When asked about the court filing, the White House did not deny that the president had a role in drafting or editing the Justice Department's arguments.
“President Trump is intimately involved in the ongoing disgraceful lawsuit brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is working diligently with his team of lawyers to bring this charade to an end," White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement.
The Justice Department did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Trump shared the filing on social media on Tuesday morning, posting screenshots of each of the 16 pages without comment.
In the filing, the Justice Department said that the Trust is “very bad for our Country," a phrase the president uses repeatedly. The filing twice accuses the Trust of having “Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly referred to as TDS,” a fictitious and satirical malady that the president has used to diagnose his critics.
Trust attorney Craig — a former White House Counsel — is described in the filing as “the lawyer for Barack Hussein Obama.” Trump has for years used the former president's full legal name, a usage that recalls his longtime questioning of Obama's loyalties, his faith and birth in the United States.
The Justice Department also argued in the filing that, “because it is DONALD J. TRUMP, a highly successful real estate developer, who has abilities that others don’t, especially those who assume the Office of President, this frivolous and meritless lawsuit was filed. Again, it’s called TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.
