Escalation: Justice Department Presses for Dismissal

The Justice Department filed a 16-page motion asking Judge Richard J. Leon to dismiss the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s lawsuit and to let ballroom construction proceed. It ties the request to the security breach at the Washington Hilton, arguing that a secure, on‑site venue is required and that the court’s injunction “cannot defensibly continue.” The filing was signed by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and submitted by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr.

Large sections of the brief adopt the president’s own language. It calls the Trust “very bad for our Country,” twice diagnoses it with “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” labels its lawyer “the lawyer for Barack Hussein Obama,” and praises “DONALD J. TRUMP” as a “highly successful real estate developer” with unique abilities. It asserts the Hilton incident “could not have taken place in this new and highly secure facility,” and warns the suit “greatly endangers the lives of all Presidents, current and future.”

An appeals court has already paused Leon’s injunction pending June arguments, so the department also seeks an indicative ruling to dissolve it while the appeal is underway. A demand that the Trust withdraw its case went out shortly after the dinner; some accounts attribute that letter to Blanche, others to Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate. The president posted screenshots of all 16 pages of the filing.

AI-synthesized from multiple reported sources