Dear President Trump,
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We are writing to urge you to provide us immediately with additional information aboutyour decision to demolish the East Wing of the White House for construction of your new90,000 square foot ballroom. This demolition likely violates the White House Preservation Actand denies the public access to the “People’s House.” We urge you to stop this reckless vanity project at least until you demonstrate how it complies with federal law.The White House Preservation Act, enacted in 1961, governs the care and preservation ofthe White House and its contents. This Act requires the preservation of any “historic” or“artistic” property, including furniture, fixtures, and decorative objects, for the American public.
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The Act also clearly directs the current President to transfer any historic and artistic items thatare not currently being used to the Smithsonian Institution for its “care, study, and storage orexhibition.”According to public reporting, while some elements of the original Office of the FirstLady were preserved and stored under the supervision of the White House Executive Residenceand the National Park Service, other elements of the East Wing—including offices used by theFirst Lady’s staff, the military office, as well as a key entrance where the public arrives for toursand receptions—have been reduced to nothing but a pile of debris and rubble.
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The White House Preservation Act protects not just the preservation of “furniture” and “decorative objects” but all the historic elements of the White House, which include “fixtures” of the space. At this time, neither Congress nor the over 300 million Americans who actually own the White House are aware of what you have done to safeguard the objects in the East Wing that hold cultural and historic significance to the country. We are especially troubled because you have a history of demolishing historic property without notice or consent.
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To clear the site for your Trump Towerin New York, you destroyed two historically significant friezes that you promised to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Meantime, White House tours, long a fixture of Americans’ visits to our nation’s Capital,have been cancelled since September as your curated group of Washington insiders prepared theEast Wing for its eventual demise. Until September of this year, the White House’s East Wingwelcomed 10,000 people per week, serving as a living testament to the fact that our government belongs to the people and our shared history belongs to everyone.
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We urge you to immediately cease your demolition of the White House, and we demanda detailed explanation of the process you used to conduct your demolition operation to date.Please send written responses to the following questions by no later than November 6, 2025.
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1. Please provide an inventory of all objects of historic significance in the EastWing prior to August 31, 2025 and the location of all such objects for theduration of this demolition.
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2. Please outline the actions that your staff has taken to transfer these objects tothe custody of the Smithsonian as required by law.
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3. Please provide all documents and communications pertaining the decision tocancel all White House tours beginning on September 1, 2025.
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4. Please provide a timeline of when the White House will resume tours andmake itself available to the public.The White House belongs to all Americans, not one president or family. We oppose youtaking a wrecking ball to your temporary residence without advising its over 300 million owners.
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You are the temporary occupant and steward of this structure, just like every American Presidentsince John Adams has been. You are moving forward to demolish the White House and build an extravagant and wasteful ballroom during a government shutdown while Americans face a serious health care crisis. As costs skyrocket across the country, we urge you to halt this vanity project that is razing a treasured part of our national heritage.
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This is all well and good, but does it have any teeth? Donold will disregard this like anything else he doesn’t agree with unless there’s an enforcement action.
Bravo to Raskin for digging up some actual law. AND for making public the letter he sent to Trump. Alas that letter won’t do jack. At best Trump will simply rip it to pieces and toss it in the trash can. At worst he might rip it up into his fake gold toilet and then…
Now that there’s at least one (and probably more can be brought to bear) Raskin, if not himself then via surrogate need to file for an injunction in court in DC. Next effing week! Trump of course will appeal. The DC Circuit will deny him relief. Then the question becomes whether SCOTUS gets involved. While they’ve largely been lapdogs for Trump at times they’ve ruled against him and every single one of the six Federalist Society GROOMED Fascists knows two things about Trump. He NEVER, even in his devolving by the day state forgets a slight. Every single one he’s ever suffered is in what left of his diseased brain and there’s no accounting for when one pops into his consciousness. The second is that if there was a NOBEL Prize for VINDICTIVESS Trump would get it every year and they’d wind up naming it for him!
SCOTUS has a small, stately building across the way from the east side of the Capitol and ‘just because’ Trump might decide to rename SCOTUS for himself and declare himself as having the final word on ANY ruling they make. Judicial Review established in Marbury v Madison will become TRUMP review. Worse, he will if not tear down their historic building turn it into something every bit as tacky as Marmaladeago or what he’s doing to our WH.
My guess, or at least strong hope is that they’d decline to take up any appeal from Trump and a permanent injunction against further changes to the WH until a new commission made up of the proper kind of people, with only a single seat that can be filled by a Trump/Presidential appointee is established. An awful logt of GOPers have many fond memories of times spent in the WH before Trump, especially prior to what’s gone on so far in his second term. I can actually see bi-partisan, veto proof legislation passed to protect not just the WH but other historic structures in DC. And regulating (as in rejected) idiotic, garish monstrosities such as the proposed Arch of Trump.