On October 22, 2025, President Donald Trump meets with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, and holds up a rendering of the completed banquet hall he is proposing.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project on Monday rejected a Justice Department request to drop their legal challenge in the wake of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where the president was evacuated.
“Your assertion that this lawsuit puts the president’s life in ‘grave danger’ is inaccurate and irresponsible,” Gregory Craig, an attorney for the plaintiff National Trust for Historic Preservation, wrote in a letter to the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate.
“Simply put, this incident does not jeopardize the safety of the President in any way,” Craig wrote in a new letter provided to CNBC.
“And nothing prevents us from seeking from Congress at any time the necessary authorizations required by the Constitution and federal law,” the lawyers wrote.
“What Saturday’s horrific events do not change is that the Constitution and multiple federal laws require Congress to authorize the construction of a ballroom on the White House grounds, and Congress has not done so.
A model of the new White House ballroom is placed on a table as U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 22, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
Mr. Craig’s response came two days after Mr. Trump, Republican lawmakers and the president’s allies renewed their calls for the lawsuit to be dismissed in federal court and clear the way for construction of the banquet hall.
Mr. Trump and others have argued that the proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom would be much safer than the Washington Hilton Hotel, where Saturday’s shooting took place, and other venues outside the White House grounds.
In a letter to Craig on Sunday, Shumate said the trust’s lawsuit “puts the lives of the president, his family and staff at great risk.”
“I hope yesterday’s close vote finally makes people understand the folly of a lawsuit that literally serves no purpose other than to stop President Trump at all costs,” Shumate wrote.
“Enough is enough,” Shumate wrote. “In light of last night’s assassination attempt on President Trump, your client should voluntarily drop this frivolous lawsuit today.”
The shooting at the WHCD occurred nine days after a federal judge ordered President Trump to block construction of the banquet hall, citing lack of approval from Congress.
“National security is not a blank check to proceed with illegal activity,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon wrote in an order blocking construction of the ballroom while the lawsuit proceeds.
The Justice Department appealed the ruling, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted Leon’s injunction, but said it would expedite its review of the Justice Department’s challenge.
President Trump cited the incident Saturday at a press conference within hours of the arrest of suspected shooter Cole Thomas Allen, claiming he had secured the long-sought ballroom.
“The ballroom is essential for a number of reasons,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said in an interview on Fox News Monday, one of several corners where the conservative network continued to blare calls for the structure to be built.
In a separate Fox interview, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) accused Democratic leaders in Congress of inciting violence with their rhetoric against Trump and said he was “grateful” that Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania, supported the ballroom effort for security reasons.
“He’s right. A ballroom would be the solution to this problem, because it’s on the most secure property in the world, there’s no hotel room above it, and the windows have seven-inch-thick glass,” he said. “So it would be a very safe environment to have an event like this.”
“We needed a place like that, and the president keeps pointing that out.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) called his opposition to social circles an example of “Trump derangement syndrome” in an interview on Fox.
In addition to media appearances, Republican lawmakers and other Trump supporters used social media to amplify calls for the ballroom to be built.
These social media posts, in turn, received responses from some people who claimed, without evidence, that the WHCD shooting was staged to create pressure for the ballroom to be built.
Others criticizing the ballroom call noted that the president regularly visits venues outside the White House.
