Trump White House Ballroom

The Trump administration is arguing that a judge’s order to halt construction of a $400 million ballroom creates a security risk for the president. It is asking a federal appeals court to pause the ruling. In an emergency motion filed Friday, National Park Service lawyers say that order to suspend construction of the new facility was “threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the President and his family, and the President’s staff.” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington last week ordered that unless Congress approves the project, which has included demolishing the East Wing of the White House, it must be put on pause.

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 his opponents are insane. The 16-page filing is a sign of the extraordinary degree to which the president has demolished the traditional wall of independence between the Justice Department and White House.