The Justice Department argued that an alleged plot to assassinate President Donald Trump at UFC Freedom 250 event justified the ballroom project that required demolishing the White House’s East Wing.
Trump’s DOJ made the case in a filing to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday evening, in which they cited the five men arrested over “an alleged plot to carry out an attack to kill President Trump, his family, dignitaries and others attending the UFC event held on the South Lawn of the White House this Sunday” as a justification for the controversial construction project.
In the document, which was viewed by TheWrap, the DOJ explained that the suspects planned to “deploy drones armed with explosives in and around the [UFC] event” in an attempt to force an evacuation, where they then planned “to deploy snipers to fire upon ‘high value targets’ within the fleeing crowd.”
Per Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate, this plot “demonstrates the compelling need for the East Wing Project, with a Ballroom designed to defend against just such attacks.”
As AGA Shumate went on, he explained how the project would help prevent a similar attack in the future.
“The Project will support a highly sophisticated Drone Port and Sniper Nests atop the Ballroom that would destroy any effort to launch such an attack,” he wrote. “The knitted, unified, cohesive Ballroom will also have many other critical strategic features—a heavy steel drone proof roof, missile resistant columns, bullet, ballistic and blast proof glass windows, military grade and hermetically sealed venting for air conditioning and heating and far more.”
He concluded: “In short, the repeated assassination attempts and plots against President Trump and those around him demonstrate the National Security imperative for a bullet proof, drone proof Ballroom to protect the President, all future Presidents, their Cabinets, staffs, families and guests.”
The DOJ’s filing comes nearly two weeks after a three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit for the U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments over the legality of Trump’s ballroom project. The Trump administration was previously sued by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in December in an attempt to stop the construction, in which they argued the government failed to follow legally required preservation and review processes. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon then ruled in favor of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in March, which temporarily halted the construction. Or, at least, it did until April, when Judge Leon’s ruling was frozen by the appeals court and allowed the government to continue with the construction for the time being.
It’s clear the DOJ is attempting to utilize this latest incident to their advantage for the appeal, filing the document hours after FBI director Kash Patel wrote on X that the FBI and its law enforcement partners were made aware on June 10 of an intended attack on the UFC250 fight night.
“Thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold,” Patel wrote. “While the result represented the best of investigative work, it was also nothing out of the ordinary for this law enforcement team – we are built to detect, respond to, and bring to justice those who threaten the lives of American citizens – particularly during large gatherings like the historic UFC 250 fight. That’s exactly what we did here. I want to thank our great agents and partners, this work remains ongoing and we will continue to update the public as permitted. “
