DoJ pressures group to drop lawsuit against Trump’s ballroom after gala shooting

Trump officials use incident at correspondents’ dinner to pitch case for $400m project, arguing it will be ‘safe space’

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The US Department of J (DoJ) has used the weekend shooting in Washington DC to pressure a preservation group to drop a lawsuit seeking to halt the construction of Donald Trump’s White House ballroom.

Several Trump administration officials, including the president, seized on the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner to advance their case for the completion of the controversial $400m project, for which the White House’s East Wing was suddenly demolished, arguing the new ballroom was needed as a “safe space”.