Attorney General Todd Blanche is pressing the case that the Trump administration needs no new permission from Congress to build a White House ballroom, but an appeals court has given the project days, not weeks, to survive without Supreme Court intervention.
Blanche appeared on Fox News's "Fox News Sunday" and laid out the Department of Justice's legal position in plain terms: existing congressional authority already covers the massive construction project on the White House campus, and the administration sees no reason to go back to Capitol Hill for a fresh vote. The statement came as a federal appeals court deadline of August 21 threatens to halt all work on the estimated $900 million project unless the Supreme Court steps in first.
The Hill reported Blanche's remarks during the Sunday broadcast, where the attorney general framed the ballroom not as a luxury addition but as a critical security upgrade for the president, his family, and visiting world leaders.
"We don't believe we have to go to Congress. We believe Congress has already given us the authority to do what we're doing."
That assertion puts the DOJ squarely at odds with Democratic lawmakers who have challenged both the legal basis and the price tag. A group of those lawmakers sent a letter to acting GAO comptroller general Orice Williams Brown urging a formal audit of the project, calling the funding structure opaque and the scope unprecedented.
In their letter to Brown, the Democratic lawmakers did not hold back about their concerns. They pointed to what they described as "the destruction of historic architecture" and "the absence of standard federal review processes," arguing those gaps "raise serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and stewardship of this national landmark."
The project is funded through a combination of private donations and taxpayer money, though the precise split between the two has not been disclosed publicly. That mixed funding model is itself a source of friction. The lawmakers' letter specifically flagged "the opaque and unorthodox combination of public funds with private funding sources" as a red flag.
Blanche, whose Senate confirmation earlier this year cleared only after sustained political wrangling, has made the ballroom a visible priority for the Justice Department. He rejected the idea that the administration is overstepping its authority and pointed to historical precedent.
"Many presidents have done a tremendous amount of work to the White House, as they should, and Congress has authorized them to do so."
That framing positions the ballroom as routine, a continuation of a long tradition of presidential renovations and additions to the White House campus. Whether the courts agree is another matter entirely.
An appeals court ruling, as AP News detailed, ordered the administration to stop all construction by August 21 unless the Supreme Court intervenes. The DOJ has asked the high court to step in, and Blanche expressed confidence on Sunday that the justices would side with the administration.
"We're hopeful that the Supreme Court recognizes that so we can get the ballroom finished as soon as possible. Remember, yes, it is a ballroom, but it's also a meaningful upgrade and necessary part of the security of this city and the security of the president and his family."
Blanche expanded on the security argument, making clear the administration views the project as far more than an entertainment venue.
"And so it's not just about a place for world leaders to come and have dinner, it's also about making sure that the president and his family, guests, world leaders are safe when they're in this city."
The security rationale gained real-world urgency after a shooting at the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. The DOJ cited that incident directly, with Blanche demanding the National Trust for Historic Preservation dismiss its lawsuit blocking construction and calling the Hilton "demonstrably unsafe." Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate stated that "the White House ballroom will ensure the safety and security of the President for decades to come and prevent future assassination attempts."
The contentious confirmation process Blanche endured to become attorney general did not slow his willingness to put the DOJ's weight behind the project. In a separate appearance earlier this year, he vowed the department would use every available tool to see construction through.
The New York Post reported that Blanche doubled down on the commitment after the Senate scrapped a provision that would have funded $1 billion in security upgrades through budget reconciliation. That legislative setback did not change the administration's posture.
"We're going to continue to do, we, meaning the Department of Justice, will continue to do everything we can to get that ballroom built."
Blanche also pushed back on the idea that money was the obstacle, saying the real issue was legal, not financial: "The issue with the ballroom is not funding, and President Trump has said over and over again why we need it. He's totally right."
A federal appeals court in April had already allowed the $400 million project to continue after a lower court blocked above-ground work, with a hearing scheduled for June 5. The cost figures reported across outlets have varied, The Hill's corrected estimate placed the project at $900 million, while other reports cited $400 million, and no public accounting has reconciled the difference.
President Trump has not hesitated to weigh in on the political dynamics surrounding his attorney general. After the Fox News Sunday interview aired, Trump criticized anchor Shannon Bream, herself a lawyer, though the specific nature of his remarks was not detailed. Bream had pressed Blanche on why the administration would not simply go to Congress for approval of the project if it believed it already had the authority, a question that cut to the core of the legal debate.
The shooting at the Washington Hilton shifted the political ground beneath the ballroom fight. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. John Fetterman, expressed support for building a secure White House venue for state events in the aftermath of the attack.
That bipartisan backing complicates the Democratic caucus's broader opposition. Some of the same lawmakers demanding a GAO audit belong to a party whose members publicly endorsed the security argument after a real-world attack proved the point. The administration has seized on that contradiction, framing opponents of the ballroom as prioritizing procedural objections over presidential safety.
Blanche's path to the attorney general's office was itself marked by Republican senators demanding written commitments from the DOJ before they would vote to confirm him. That history makes his current posture, asserting broad executive authority without seeking fresh congressional approval, a notable pivot. The man who needed every Senate vote he could get now argues the Senate already said yes.
Several major questions remain unanswered. No public breakdown exists showing how much of the project is covered by private donations versus taxpayer dollars. The specific statutory authority the DOJ relies on has not been named publicly. And the appeals court whose order set the August 21 deadline was not identified by name in available reporting, leaving the procedural posture of the case partly obscured.
What is clear: the clock is ticking. If the Supreme Court does not act before August 21, construction stops. The administration's legal argument, that Congress already said yes, will be tested not by legislators but by justices. And the ballroom, whether it costs $400 million or $900 million, will sit unfinished on the White House campus while lawyers argue over who has the authority to build it.
When a president says a project protects national security and an attorney general says Congress already approved it, the least the public deserves is a straight answer on what it costs and who is paying for it.