Trump takes steps toward demolishing four federal buildings, preservationist alleges

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — After demolishing the White House’s East Wing, President Donald Trump is now eying four federal buildings for the same treatment and is circumventing a key government agency with his plans, according to a historic preservationist raising the alarm.

Mydelle “Mina” Wright, a former senior official at the General Services Administration, wrote in a sworn court declaration this week that the White House is “acting on its own and not through the GSA,” which oversees government property, to solicit bids “to analyze and recommend for demolition four historic federal buildings in DC.” The administration, though, asserted in a court filing that the government was contemplating transferring ownership of the buildings, not destroying them.

The buildings in question — many of which feature architectural styles that don’t fit Trump’s stated preferences — include the Robert C. Weaver Building, which serves as headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development; the New Deal-era Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building; the GSA Regional Office Building; and the Liberty Loan Building, although the GSA announced plans to dispose of that building last year, which could include transferring control to a new owner.

In a court filing Wednesday evening responding to the declaration, the Trump administration called Wright’s assertions “impermissible and factually inaccurate.”

“It is based on hearsay, not personal knowledge, and it is wrong,” principal deputy assistant attorney general Adam Gustafson and deputy chief Marissa Piropato wrote.

GSA, they said, “is currently evaluating those assets not for demolition but for disposal—meaning conveyance out of federal ownership,” adding that GSA is following the necessary regulations.

The White House did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Since returning to the White House this year, Trump has leaned into his background as a real estate developer and has taken major steps to apply his vision to Washington: paving over the White House Rose Garden and decorating it to mirror his Mar-a-Lago patio; adorning the Oval Office, Cabinet Room and West Colonnade with gilded features; and launching construction of a $300 million ballroom that he says is privately funded.

But his new plans, Wright said in her declaration, present an “untenable situation” for GSA leadership attempting to navigate the president’s hands-on involvement.

“For the first time of which I am aware, a President is personally involved in facilitating end-runs around the agency’s obligations to the buildings that are our national heritage, and who in the agency is going to tell him ‘No?’” said Wright, who added that she first learned of the effort Friday and that it only recently came to the attention of key GSA officials, who usually have to work within strict legal guidelines and historic preservation and environmental policy.

As he attempts to put his mark on the nation’s capital — from Kennedy Center renovations to plans for a new triumphal arch and stadium — Trump is taking aim at buildings with historical significance, preservationists warn.

The Weaver building follows former President John F. Kennedy’s “Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture” and is on the National Register of Historic Places. But its precast concrete is an example of the brutalist architecture of the 1960s — for which Trump has made his distaste known.

Earlier this year, the president signed an executive order mandating that all federal buildings “embrace classical architecture,” specifically targeting modernist and brutalist buildings.

The Cohen building features New Deal murals and sculpture and is an example of Egyptian Revival and Stripped Classicism architecture, according to the GSA. Historian Michael Austin has warned that Liberty Loan, an example of “tempo” federal buildings that popped up in the 20th century, is an “irreplaceable piece of Washington history.” The GSA Regional Office Building is another New Deal-era building.

Wright’s declaration comes amid a broader court battle over Trump’s efforts to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a sprawling and ornate federal building next door to the White House.

In an interview last month, Trump told Fox News he was exploring painting the distinctive building a bright white, adding, “Gray is for funerals.”

A group of preservationists sued Trump to halt any changes to the building unless a standard review process is followed, warning the structure could be “irreversibly damaged.”

In a hearing this week, the Trump administration argued that the EEOB was exempt from that review process, but agreed to refrain from any painting until March amid the ongoing the legal process.

Meanwhile, Trump’s renovation and construction projects continue at the White House. Last week, he hired a new architect for the ballroom amid disputes with the project’s original architect over its size and scope.

The project has drawn outcry from preservationists for the administration’s failure to seek approval from the commission overseeing construction on federal buildings before demolition. The White House has said it will submit plans for the ballroom construction to the National Capital Planning Commission, but it insisted the body doesn’t have purview over the East Wing.

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