Thwarted attack on UFC fight is another reason to build White House ballroom, Trump DOJ argues | CNN Politics

As federal courts have looked skeptically at President Donald Trump’s assertion that he can construct a massive new ballroom at the White House without approval from lawmakers, he’s increasingly pointed to alleged attempts to harm him as a reason why the project should continue apace. The latest iteration of that argument came late Tuesday when a top political appointee at the Justice Department said a thwarted possible attack on the outdoor UFC fight held at the White House last weekend “demonstrates the compelling need” for the nearly 90,000-square foot event space. The ballroom’s “mass and height will shield the White House grounds from attack, and give the Secret Service the visibility needed to identify attackers,” Brett Shumate, the head of DOJ’s civil division, told a federal appeals court in a brief letter. “It will protect the president and guests at major events that are currently held in ‘plastic tents that cannot even protect highly esteemed guests from inclement weather, let alone high caliber bullets or kamikaze drones,’ – exactly the attack that this Sunday’s would-be assassins plotted to launch,” he wrote, referring to temporary structure