HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) \u2014 President Donald Trump said Sunday the military is building a complex beneath the grounds of the future White House ballroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that\u2019s under construction and we\u2019re doing very well,\u201d he told reporters aboard Air Force One. \u201cSo we\u2019re ahead of schedule \u2013 that’s part of it \u2013 and the ballroom essentially becomes a shed for what\u2019s being built under the military, including from drones and including from any other thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National News Desk hasn\u2019t been able to confirm the complex\u2019s construction, and it\u2019s unclear what it would include. The Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a White House bunker for immediate crises, was located under the now-demolished East Wing, but it\u2019s unclear whether the facility is still intact.<\/p>\n
Attorneys with the Department of Justice (DOJ) have argued that the ballroom <\/a>must be completed to protect the White House. They said in a court filing in December, when a historic preservation organization sued to stop construction, that the district judge should consider security issues when deciding whether to issue an injunction.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause Plaintiff has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits, this Court need not consider the balance of harms and the public interest in issuance of an injunction. However, were the Court to do so, the equities favor Defendants in light of security concerns that warrant permitting the current below-grade construction to continue,\u201d the DOJ wrote.<\/p>\n The plaintiffs, part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, have dismissed the administration\u2019 arguments. The nonprofit said earlier this month that the DOJ was fishing for justification to build the ballroom.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Defendants continue to search for a legal theory \u2013 any theory \u2013 that permits them to erect a massive ballroom on the White House grounds without obtaining the necessary authorization from Congress,\u201d the organization wrote in a filing. \u201cAfter three months, well over a hundred pages of briefing, more than a dozen affidavits, and twelve attorneys scouring the U.S. Code, they are still searching, and for good reason: they need congressional authorization, and none exists.\u201d<\/p>\n