WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump this week quietly appointed four new members to the Commission of Fine Arts, one of two federal boards reviewing his plan to build a White House ballroom.
The Republican president has talked about building a White House ballroom for years, and the completion of the proposed 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) addition would not only forever change the public face of the mansion but would remain for decades as a lasting legacy for Trump.
One of the new members is James McCrery, an architect who led the now $400 million ballroom project until Trump took over late last year. The White House said the project will be funded by private donations — including from Trump himself — and the East Wing has already been demolished to make room for the ballroom.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has asked in federal court to stop construction until the art board and a second federal commission give their approval. The four new members were revealed in court documents filed Thursday by a White House official as part of that lawsuit. The White House did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
The new appointments give the Fine Arts Commission a quorum, or enough members to conduct business at a meeting scheduled for January 22, where on the agenda is consideration of what is being called the Wing Modernization project. The panel was scheduled to meet this past week, but could not due to the lack of new members.
The commission did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
The panel normally has seven members but has been unable to meet for months. Trump fired six commissioners last fall after the East Wing was demolished. The seventh Commissioner, who was the president of the panel, previously resigned after Trump took office last year because their mandate had expired.
The White House is tentatively scheduled to formally present the project to the commission on February 19 and March 19, at which time the panel can complete its review, Heather Martin, deputy assistant to the president, said in court documents.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation accused the Trump administration of violating federal laws by starting the project before submitting it to independent reviews by commissions and Congress, as well as the public.
In addition to architect McCrery, who served on the commission as a Trump appointee from 2019 to 2024, the commission will include Mary Anne Carter of Tennessee; Roger Kimball of Connecticut; and Matthew Taylor of Washington, DC
Carter is president of the National Endowment for the Arts, a position she also held during Trump’s first term. She is a former staffer of Rick Scott, former governor of Florida and current US senator from the state. Kimball is an art critic and conservative commentator.
The National Capital Planning Commission, the second federal board with oversight of construction on federal land, including White House grounds, heard an initial presentation about the ballroom at its Jan. 8 meeting.