WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump this week quietly appointed four new members to the Commission of Fine Arts, one of two federal panels reviewing his plan to build a White House ballroom.
The Republican president has talked about building a White House ballroom for years, and completing the proposed 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) addition would not only forever alter the public face of the mansion but would stand for decades as a lasting legacy to Trump.
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One of new members is James McCrery, an architect who had led the now $400 million ballroom project until Trump replaced him late last year. The White House has said the project would be financed with private donations — including from Trump himself — and the East Wing has already been demolished to make space for the ballroom.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued in federal court to halt construction until the fine arts panel and a second federal commission give their approval. The four new members were revealed in court papers 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 would give the Commission of Fine Arts a quorum, or enough members to conduct business at a meeting scheduled for Jan. 22, where consideration of what is being called the East Wing Modernization project is on the agenda. The panel had been 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 dismissed six commissioners last fall after the East Wing was torn down. A seventh commissioner, who was the panel’s chair, had earlier resigned after Trump took office last year because their term had expired.
The White House is tentatively scheduled to formally present the project to the commission on Feb. 19 and March 19, at which time the panel could complete its review, Heather Martin, a deputy assistant to the president, said in the court papers.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has accused the Trump administration of violating federal laws by starting the project before submitting it for independent reviews by the commissions and Congress, as well as the public.
Aside from architect McCrery, who had served on the commission as a Trump appointee from 2019-2024, the commission will include Mary Anne Carter of Tennessee; Roger Kimball of Connecticut; and Matthew Taylor of Washington, D.C.
Carter is chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, a position she also held during Trump’s first term. She is a former staffer to Rick Scott, a former governor of Florida and current U.S. senator from the state. Kimball is an art critic and conservative commentator.
The National Capital Planning Commission, the second federal panel with oversight of construction on federal land, including the White House grounds, heard an initial presentation about the ballroom at its meeting on Jan. 8.