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If at first you’re stonewalled by the Trump administration, try, try again.
That’s the approach Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Robert Garcia of California appear to be taking in trying to exercise oversight over President Trump’s $400 million ballroom project.
In a letter first obtained by CBS News, Warren and Garcia reiterated their plea for answers about the National Park Service’s role in the project and how donor money collected by a nonprofit organization was funneled through the agency to a White House office overseeing construction.
The lawmakers wrote to the Park Service “with questions about whether NPS…has facilitated corruption in connection with President Trump’s White House ballroom project.”
Garcia and Warren’s previous attempts to extract information from the administration about the ballroom’s finances have yielded few answers from the White House or other federal agencies.
“The Park Service can try to dodge Congress, but we won’t stop pressing for answers,” Warren said.
Democrats lack subpoena power to compel witness testimony or document production. The lawmakers’ letter to the park service amounts to a nonbinding request for information.
Warren and Garcia raised ethics questions about whether ballroom donors were promised favorable treatment by the administration in exchange for their contributions. They also seek answers about the “amount, source, or terms of the donation[s],” which the administration has so far declined to disclose in detail.
“We need answers now as to which billionaire corporations are shoveling money to Trump’s vanity projects and what favors they may be seeking in return. Americans deserve to know whether the National Park Service is being used to help facilitate Trump’s corruption,” Warren added.
A federal judge is expected to rule this month on whether ballroom construction can proceed, though the case is expected to be appealed, regardless of the outcome. The lawsuit, brought against the administration by the Trust for Historic Preservation, alleges the administration failed to obtain requisite approvals prior to construction, in violation of existing law.
Justice Department officials have argued the administration is on the right side of the law even though the project has been on a fast track.
Warren and Garcia asked Park Service officials whether they “agree with President Trump’s assertion…that ‘IT IS TOO LATE!’ to stop the ballroom project even if a judge rules that it violates the law and orders it stopped.”
The roughly 90,000 square-foot East Wing renovation, which includes the ballroom, office space and a double decker colonnade connecting the new space to the executive residence, faces two review boards in the coming weeks.
The National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts are expected to soon render their verdicts on Mr. Trump’s ballroom. The CFA will hear the administration’s final presentation Thursday. Both panels are stacked with Trump allies.
The president recently added White House aide Chamberlain Harris to the Commission of Fine Arts, completing a total overhaul of the board since he fired the previous members in October. The Washington Post was first to report Harris’ appointment.
According to its website, CFA “is composed of seven members with expertise in the arts” and includes an architect and others experienced in the arts and urban planning.
Harris’ relevant expertise was not immediately clear. Her official biography cites her work “managing President Trump’s Presidential Portrait Project,” which now lines the colonnade leading to the West Wing. Harris worked for Mr. Trump during part of his first administration and after he left office.
“Chamberlain Harris has spent several years as a loyal, trusted, and highly respected advisor to President Trump. She understands the President’s vision and appreciation of the arts like very few others, and brings a unique perspective that will serve the Commission well,” said White House communications director Steven Cheung.
