LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Construction work on President Trump's ballroom must temporarily stop. That is the ruling from a federal district court judge on Tuesday. It's a setback to the project Trump has sped through the planning and building process, including tearing down the East Wing of the White House. NPR White House correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben has been following all this, and she joins me now. Good morning, Danielle.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning.
FADEL: So what did this ruling say exactly?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, it was written by Judge Richard Leon. He's a George W. Bush appointee. And it was in response to a request from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States for a preliminary injunction halting construction on the ballroom. And Leon, first off, in his ruling said that Trump just doesn't have the power that he's asserted here. Judge Leon wrote, quote, "the ballroom construction project must stop until Congress authorizes its completion." But Leon had more criticisms, too. He called the administration's legal justification for its private funding process, a Rube Goldberg contraption, by which he means it's a complicated explanation, but it also elides the fact that Congress just didn't authorize this project. And you get a sense that Leon had strong feelings because there's just more exclamation points than you often see in legal writing. For example, he wrote that the president is the steward of the White House but that, quote, "he is not, however, the owner," exclamation point.
FADEL: OK. So Judge Leon wrote, construction must stop. Has it stopped?
KURTZLEBEN: No. Judge Leon has said he's delaying enforcement of the injunction for 14 days, expecting the administration to appeal. And, indeed, President Trump said yesterday that his administration will be appealing. In addition, Judge Leon wrote that he's excluding from this injunction, quote, "construction necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House." Now, this likely refers to what Trump has called a massive complex being built beneath the ballroom for military and national security purposes.
FADEL: Now, the president has talked up this ballroom a lot. He posts about it all the time. So I'm assuming he's not happy about this. How's he reacting?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, angrily. Yeah. I mean, shortly after this ruling came out, he posted a screed on social media - it was almost 300 words - where he first took aim at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, calling them a radical-left group of lunatics. But then, this being Trump, he veered into other grievances, including against Fed Chair Jerome Powell over renovations at the central bank and also California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom over the building of a railway in his state. Later yesterday, Trump criticized Judge Leon to reporters and emphasized that the ballroom, which Trump estimates will cost 300 million and $400 million, is entirely privately funded.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Basically, he's saying I need congressional approval. And he's so wrong. This is being financed privately. It's a donation that's being given by companies, very rich companies, very rich people.
KURTZLEBEN: But that itself is, of course, controversial because critics have been calling for more transparency into who's donating and who might be trying to curry favor with President Trump.
FADEL: So what happens before an appeals court hears the case?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, Thursday, there is a vote on the ballroom scheduled at the National Capital Planning Commission. That vote was already planned. And I asked the commission. They said it's still happening. In a statement, the panel told NPR that since the commission is not a direct party to this case, the order just does not stop the ballroom planning process. Trump appointees dominate that commission, but, of course, even if they approve, it all still matters how any appeal plays out.
FADEL: NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben. Thank you, Danielle.
KURTZLEBEN: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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