Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has made his mark on Washington, D.C., and the White House. He has redecorated the Oval Office, paved over the Rose Garden and erected new flagpoles.
Two of Trump’s largest projects, however, are still ongoing: the White House ballroom and a proposed triumphal arch dubbed the “Arc de Trump.”
While the ballroom project is definitely underway, with the entire White House East Wing already demolished, the “Arc de Trump” project is just getting started.
Let’s take a look at where things stand.
The latest on the East Wing ballroom
On Thursday, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from any above-ground construction on the president’s proposed White House ballroom.
The order allows work to continue only on national security facilities below ground level. But it prevents work that would “lock in the above-ground size and scale of the ballroom.”
“The below-surface work is driven by national security concerns independent of the above-grade construction,” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon wrote.
But ballroom construction must stop, Leon ruled, until Congress authorizes its completion.
In an earlier order that temporarily halted all work on the project, Leon said that while the president is the “steward of the White House… he is not the owner.”
Immediately after Thursday’s ruling, Trump shared a post on Truth Social calling Leon a “Trump-hating judge.” He added that the judge “has gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn’t get built.”
‘Arc de Trump’ gets approval from arts commission
While the ballroom is facing some roadblocks, another of Trump’s projects made progress on Thursday. The “Arc de Trump,” a 250-foot stone arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, received preliminary design approval from the Commission on Fine Arts.
Commissioners questioned the arch’s architect, Nicolas Charbonneau and suggested alterations before voting to advance the project. Charbonneau will now have a chance to absorb the feedback and make adjustments before the commission votes on final approval.
The commission has the authority to approve the design and look of all construction within the District of Columbia. Trump appointed its members.
Still, one commissioner criticized the proposed winged Lady Liberty and two bald eagles atop the arch, saying, “It seems odd.” That same commissioner, who approved the preliminary design, also criticized the height, saying it would “better participate” in Washington’s memorial skyline at about 166 feet.
The commission’s secretary, Thomas Luebke, also called out the height, saying the arch would “assert itself as a dominant vertical element in a skyline that has resisted such intrusions.”
He noted the commissioner received about 1,000 public comments on the project — all of them against it.