Trump's Illegal Ballroom

I ended my blog post yesterday with a brief mention of demolition work that was taking place at the East Wing of the White House. Later in the day, Chris Geidner of the Law Dork blog published new photographs showing that the East Wing had been totally destroyed. It simply no longer exists. It appears that the response by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump to the "No Kings" rallies was to demonstrate that, in fact, he is a king.

As I wrote yesterday:

Trump alone decided that a new ballroom should be built on White House grounds. Trump alone arranged funding for the development. Trump alone has authorized expenditures on the work. While Trump once said that the project would not touch the existing building, Trump alone apparently approved the demolition of part of the historic structure. The White House is on the National Register of Historic Places, and as such, changes of this sort require approval from Congress, the National Park Service, the White House Historical Association, and the Commission of Fine Arts. This ensures that an important aspect of American history will be preserved. Trump simply ignored all of that and, like a king, ordered that the demolition begin.

I want to emphasize this again because it is such an easy-to-understand illustration of all the unlawful steps being taken by Trump. In normal circumstances, funds are raised by Congress. Congress then appropriates those funds. In order to modify the historic White House structure, a President would request funds from Congress, where the proposal would, presumably, be carefully considered and a vast array of stakeholders brought into the process. Normally, any construction project would require the approval of the National Capital Planning Commission. The White House is, after all, not Trump's house, but the People's house.

In this case, Trump unilaterally decided that the White House needed a new ballroom. While Trump repeatedly claims that an unidentified "they" has wanted a new ballroom for 150 years, he never says who "they" are or has provided any documentation of the desire. Trump then went on to raise money for the project from private sources. Earlier this month, Trump held a dinner at the White House for dozens of billionaires and corporate leaders. The fact that Trump rewards those who do him favors and punishes those who don't is well-known by now. So those in attendance were well aware that they were experiencing the equivalent of a mafia shakedown. Trump certainly wouldn't want anything bad to happen to those nice corporations that they run, so perhaps they should give generously. According to Trump, that's exactly what they did. As he put it:

So many of you have been really, really generous. I mean, a couple of you, I was sitting here and saying, "Sir, would $25 million be appropriate?" They said, "I’ll take it."

Whether this money constitutes bribes or is the result of extortion is probably a question of interpretation. But the impact has been clear. The "donations" allowed Trump to establish his own slush fund. Instead of turning to Congress for money as he lawfully should, Trump is planning to use these funds for the ballroom.

Trump has been the opposite of transparent with regard to his building plans. There have been no public sessions to provide information about his intentions; obviously, Congress has not been informed. Nothing has been provided to the National Capital Planning Commission. Engineering News-Record, a specialized publication for the construction industry, published an article about the ballroom construction yesterday. The article included this quaint paragraph:

Completed in 1942 to house the first lady’s office and support staff, the now-former East Wing presents significant engineering challenges. Any addition must maintain structural independence while protecting the historic building’s load paths, vibration limits and façade integrity.

What Trump is doing is not building an addition but is totally replacing the East Wing. Structural independence, load paths, and the rest are no longer relevant. The East Wing is gone. I mentioned the photos obtained by Chris Geidner, but here they are:

Yesterday, there was another hint regarding how Trump might pay for the ballroom construction. The New York Times reported that "Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him". Even Trump seemed to acknowledge the unusual nature of this request, saying, "I’m the one that makes the decision, and that decision would have to go across my desk, and it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself."

The New York Times quoted Bennett L. Gershman, an ethics professor at Pace University, as saying, "What a travesty. The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental you don’t need a law professor to explain it." Trump can simply order administration officials, some of whom were actual legal representatives of his in the cases in question, to authorize the payments, which he would then pocket.

The potential connection to the ballroom was revealed yesterday during a meeting with the press. Trump responded to a question about the New York Times report by saying, "if I get money from our country, I'll do something nice with it, like give it to charity or give it to the White House where we restore the White House" and then went on to talk about the ballroom project. Trump has frequently said that he would personally pay for the ballroom construction. This, of course, contradicts his simultaneous claims (and apparent evidence) that he is raising money from private sources. More recently, Trump has said that both private sources and he would pay for the project. If $230 million were taken from the U.S. Treasury and given to Trump, and he, in turn, donated it to the White House to pay for the ballroom, the project would be almost fully funded, and Trump could claim to have personally paid for it.

I would also like to point out the similarity between Trump's behavior with regard to the ballroom project and how he is acting towards tariffs. Section 8 of Article I of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises." Congress has delegated tariff authority to the President in the case of several extraordinary circumstances. Trump has simply declared that such circumstances universally exist, a clear violation of the intent of the laws. However, Congress has relegated itself to nothing but a group of enablers of Trump's illegality. As such, Trump has been applying and modifying tariffs at his own discretion. The Supreme Court will soon hear a case challenging Trump's tariff use.

In addition, any money collected through tariffs legally must go to the U.S. Treasury, and it is the responsibility of Congress to appropriate all spending. Trump, however, views the tariff funds as another personal slush fund. He has been making a number of promises about how to allocate the money. For instance, he has said that it would be used to bail out soybean farmers who have lost all sales to China as a result of Trump's tariffs. He has also suggested that he would simply send checks to each American as part of a "Trump dividend" or that he would use the money to pay the military or for food assistance. Legally, Trump can't do any of those things unless Congress passes legislation to allow it.

Like a king, Trump believes that he has the power to raise revenue and the power to appropriate funds. The Constitution reserves both of these powers to Congress. In almost every press appearance these days, Trump blatantly announces an unconstitutional step that he plans to take. The Republican majorities in the House and Senate are either silent or express nothing but support. The major media outlets appear fearful of retaliation and avoid accurately describing Trump's illegal actions. Trump has intimidated them into virtual silence. Millions of Americans took to the streets this past weekend to say that America does not have kings. In turn, Trump acted to show that he has crowned himself king and that he will dump feces on you if you complain about it.