Justice Departmenturges group to drop Trump ballroom lawsuit after WHCA dinner shooting

The Justice Department (DOJ) on Sunday pressed the preservation group suing the White House over President Trump’s ballroom project to drop the lawsuit in the wake of Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner. In a letter posted to social media by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the DOJ pressed for the National Trust for Historic Preservation to drop its “frivolous lawsuit” against the Trump administration after Saturday’s incident, which prompted the evacuation of the president and high-profile administration officials from the gala. “If your client does not dismiss the lawsuit by 9:00 AM on Monday, the government will move to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the case in light of last night’s extraordinary events,” the letter continues. Trump on Saturday, speaking to reporters after a gunman exchanged fire with law enforcement at the Washington Hilton where the WHCA hosted it annual dinner, argued the shooting spotlighted the need for a White House ballroom. “I didn’t want to say this but this is why we have to have all of the attributes of what we’re planning at the White House. It’s actually a larger room, and it’s much more secure,” Trump told reporters. The Hill has reached out to a lawyer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The preservation group filed the lawsuit against the White House over Trump’s ballroom project in December. …