Judge Halts Trump’s $400 Million Ballroom Project

A federal judge blocked Donald Trump from proceeding with construction of a $400 million ballroom on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing, Reuters reports. 

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington granted a request for a preliminary injunction by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organization that brought a lawsuit alleging Trump exceeded his authority ​when he razed the historic East Wing and launched construction without approval from ​Congress.

Wrote Leon: “I have concluded that the National Trust is likely to succeed on the merits because no statute comes close to giving the president the authority he claims to have.”