甚至在一名联邦法官决定是否停止白宫宴会厅的建设之前，特朗普政府已经先发制人地要求法官暂停他可能发布的任何禁令，并警告说该项目正在进行"出于国家安全的考虑，这是必须的。"
政府在周一结束前提交的隔夜文件还表示，停止施工将“无限期地在总统公园留下一个难看的挖掘现场。”
政府的暂缓动议是在理查德·莱昂法官一周半后提出的公开表达了他深深的怀疑政府的论点是，总统有权在没有国会明确授权的情况下用私人捐款建造舞厅，他把这个计划比作"鲁比·戈德堡的新发明"莱昂还表示，他预计败诉方将提起上诉。
司法部的文件重申了其律师上个月在莱昂面前提出的许多论点，包括政府的观点，即在舞厅工程已经停止的情况下，允许项目中与安全相关的部分继续进行是“不可行的”。
“正如特勤局所证实的那样，停止施工会危及总统以及在白宫生活和工作的其他人，”政府称，并引用了一名高级机构官员上个月在法庭文件中的说法，该官员表示，目前开放的施工现场“本身就是一种危险，会让特勤局的行动变得复杂。”
政府现在表示，它将提交特勤局的第二份机密声明，进一步解释为什么停止建设“将危及国家安全，因此损害公众利益。”
人们普遍认为，这个计划是为了替换罗斯福在东翼下面修建的地堡——在拆除中被毁。
该文件还将国家历史保护信托基金对该项目的挑战视为一个提出法官以前从未处理过的问题，包括1912年禁止在没有国会授权的情况下建造联邦建筑的法令是否适用于总统。
DOJ raises 'national security' concerns in legal fight over Trump ballroom
Even before a federal judge has decided whether he'll halt construction of the White House ballroom, the Trump administration has preemptively asked the judge to stay any injunction he might issue, warning that the project is"imperative for reasons of national security."
The government’s overnight filing, entered just before the end of the day Monday, also says halting the construction would "leave an unsightly excavation site in President’s Park indefinitely."
The administration’s stay motion comes a week-and-a-half after Judge Richard Leonpublicly aired his deep skepticismof the government’s arguments that the president has the power to build a ballroom with private donations and without express authorization from Congress, comparing the plan to a“Rube Goldberg contraption." Leon also said he expected the losing side of the case to appeal.
President Donald Trump holds a floor plan of the planned White House Ballroom extension during a meeting with Mark Rutte,
The Justice Department’s filing restates many of the arguments its lawyer made before Leon last month, including the administration’s view that it would be "unworkable" to allow security-related portions of the project to continue while work on the ballroom has been stopped.
"[A]s the Secret Service attested, halting construction would imperil the President and others who live and work in the White House," the administration argues, citing a senior agency official who said in court papers last month that the current open construction site is, "in and of itself, a hazard and complicates Secret Service operations."
The government now says it will submit a second classified declaration from the Secret Service that further explains why halting construction "will endanger national security and therefore impair the public interest."
It’s widely believed the plan is to replace the bunker FDR had built underneath the East Wing -- destroyed in the demolition.
The filing also casts the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s challenge to the project as one that presents questions judges have never grappled with before, including whether a 1912 statute prohibiting the construction of federal buildings absent congressional authorization applies to the president.
Acknowledging Leon’s own expectation of an appeal by the losing side, the Justice Department is preemptively asking him to press pause on a potential ruling against the government.
"The D.C. Circuit should have the opportunity to weigh in on these significant and novel issues of first impression before the President is ordered to stop work in the middle of a high-priority construction project that implicates national security," the filing concludes.
