DOJ Lawyer Argues in Court That Trump Could Demolish Statue of Liberty if He Wants To

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh

President Donald Trump has sparked loud criticism for his changes to the White House, Kennedy Center, and other landmarks in the nation’s capital, but Department of Justice attorneys took it to another level Friday by arguing in court that the government would be able to “bulldoze” the Statue of Liberty, during a hearing challenging the president’s ballroom project.

The ballroom has been a pet project for the president, who boasted last September that it would be “absolutely magnificent construction” and “one of the best anywhere in the world,” but it has sparked significant controversy, chiefly Trump’s broken promise that the construction “won’t interfere with the current building” and would be “near [the East Wing] but not touching it.” Very soon after Trump said that, the façade was demolished, then an additional major section, and eventually the East Wing was demolished in its entirety.

The president also initially touted projects as being funded by private donors, but the specifics remained murky, and the endeavor has raised ethical questions about conflicts of interest. After the attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump and other Republicans pushed for taxpayer funding for the ballroom.

Trump has also garnered backlash for other changes he has ordered made to the White House, including the addition of a plethora of gold accents to the Oval Office, new marble and gold fixtures for the Lincoln Bathroom, and the paving of the Rose Garden. He’s also ordered a repainting of the Reflecting Pool, wants to build an Arc de Triomphe-style arch, and had his name installed on the Kennedy Center (although a judge recently ruled that had to be removed).

DOJ lawyers were in court Friday before a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to defend against a lawsuit seeking to stop the ballroom project: Judge Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee; Judge Bradley Garcia, a Biden appointee; and Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee.

Politico legal reporters Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein reported on the exchange between the judges and DOJ attorney Yaakov Roth, noting that Millett and Garcia “expressed skepticism Friday about the Trump administration’s view that courts are powerless to stop the construction of the White House ballroom now that the East Wing had been demolished.”

“When did it become a fait accompli?” asked Millett. “If this were complete lawlessness by the government … it couldn’t be stopped?”

Replied Roth, “On these theories, I think that’s right.”

“If the government decides, very quickly, to bulldoze the Statue of Liberty — the people whose ancestors that was the first thing they saw coming to this country, but the government moved too fast — nothing can be done?” the judge asked.

“I think that’s right, yes,” said Roth.

The Statue of Liberty is a 151-foot-tall copper neoclassical sculpture inspired by the Roman goddess of Liberty. It was a gift to the United States from France, designed by sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and built on an iron framework built by Gustave Eiffel, who would later go on to build the Eiffel Tower.

It was constructed in pieces in France and shipped to the United States in crates to be assembled on Liberty Island overlooking New York Harbor. After the pedestal was completed in April 1886, construction on the statue began and it was dedicated on October 28, 1886. The official name is “Liberty Enlightening the World,” or “La Liberté éclairant le monde” in French.

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