WASHINGTON — Attorney General Todd Blanche went on Fox News Sunday to make the administration's legal case for the White House ballroom project, telling anchor Shannon Bream that the Department of Justice sees no need to return to Capitol Hill for a new authorization. "We don't believe we have to go to Congress. We believe Congress has already given us the authority to do what we're doing," Blanche said.
Blanche did not cite a specific statute. His argument rests on the claim that prior Congresses authorized presidential improvements to the White House campus and that the current project falls within that standing permission. "Many presidents have done a tremendous amount of work to the White House, as they should, and Congress has authorized them to do so," he said.
A divided federal appeals court panel ruled last week that the administration has not secured congressional approval for the project and ordered all construction to stop by Aug. 21. That order stands unless the Supreme Court intervenes. The administration is now asking the Supreme Court to act before the deadline.
"We're hopeful that the Supreme Court recognizes that so we can get the ballroom finished as soon as possible," Blanche said. The Aug. 21 deadline gives the justices days, not weeks, to act.
The project is estimated to cost $900 million, funded through a combination of private donations and taxpayer money. That hybrid funding structure — not a standard congressional appropriation — is a central point of contention. Critics say it bypasses the normal federal budget and oversight process that governs work on a national landmark.
Blanche pushed back on characterizing the project as purely a social venue, arguing it carries a national security justification. "It's not just about a place for world leaders to come and have dinner. It's also about making sure that the president and his family, guests, world leaders are safe when they're in this city," he said.
Democratic lawmakers have rejected that security argument. They sent a letter to Orice Williams Brown, the acting comptroller general of the Government Accountability Office, asking the GAO to audit the project. The lawmakers pointed to what they called the destruction of historic architecture, the opaque mix of public and private funding, and the absence of standard federal review processes. "The scale of this project, the destruction of historic architecture, the opaque and unorthodox combination of public funds with private funding sources, and the absence of standard federal review processes raise serious concerns about transparency, accountability, and stewardship of this national landmark," they wrote to Brown.
The GAO request puts a separate federal watchdog into the picture alongside the courts. The GAO is an independent congressional agency; its findings carry no legal enforcement power but can inform congressional action and generate public pressure.
Bream drew scrutiny after the interview aired. President Trump publicly criticized the anchor, who is a lawyer, for the questions she put to Blanche — an unusual rebuke of a television host at a network the administration has generally favored.
The legal fight now runs on two tracks. In the courts, the administration needs the Supreme Court to stay the appeals court order before Aug. 21 or construction must halt. In Congress, Blanche's argument that existing law already covers the project has not been tested by a formal vote or hearing — Democrats who control no chamber cannot force one, but they are using the GAO letter and public statements to press the case that the project lacks proper authorization.
The core dispute is over what prior presidential authorization laws actually permit. The administration reads them broadly, as a general grant of authority to improve the White House complex for security and function. The appeals court read them narrowly, finding that a $900 million project of this scale requires explicit new congressional sign-off. That interpretive gap is what the Supreme Court will now be asked to resolve on an emergency timeline.