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Adopting Trump’s Voice, Justice Dept. Asks Judge to Let Ballroom Proceed

The court filing links the security breach at the White House correspondents’ dinner to the lawsuit over President Trump’s ballroom project.

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Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, spoke Monday about the attempted attack at the White House correspondents’ dinner and signed a motion linking the breach to President Trump’s ballroom project.

Credit...

Salwan Georges for The New York Times

By

Luke Broadwater

and

Zach Montague

Luke Broadwater is a White House correspondent. Zach Montague covers the federal courts. They reported from Washington.

April 28, 2026,

10:48 a.m. ET

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The Justice Department filed

a remarkable motion

late Monday, written in President Trump’s recognizable online voice, explicitly linking the security breach at the White House correspondents’ dinner to the lawsuit over the president’s ballroom project.

The motion, signed by the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, and submitted by

Stanley Woodward Jr

., attacks the litigation against the ballroom the same way Mr. Trump has on social media. It asks Judge Richard J. Leon to backtrack and allow construction on the project to continue.

A court of appeals has

already paused

Judge Leon’s

earlier ruling

until arguments in June. But the Justice Department’s latest motion makes an attempt to sway the litigation in the meantime, while taking the opportunity to flatter the president in dramatic terms.

“Because it is DONALD J. TRUMP, a highly successful real estate developer, who has abilities that others don’t, especially those who assume the Office of President, this frivolous and meritless lawsuit was filed,” the filing states. “Again, it’s called TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

The style of the motion leaves no doubt about the president’s significant influence over the decisions of the Justice Department. While parts of the motion are written in a traditional legal style, many sections are indistinguishable from the president’s combative posts on Truth Social.

“‘The National Trust for Historic Preservation’ is a beautiful name, but even their name is FAKE because when they add the words ‘in the United States’ to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, it makes it sound like a Governmental Agency, which it is not,” the motion begins.

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