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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Sunday that the massive arch he wants to build between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery would become a \u201ctop grade military complex\u201d able to host drones and snipers while storing ammunition.<\/p>\n
It is one more example of how Trump is insisting that his initiatives to beautify the White House and the city are also serving a defensive purpose. Trump has been calling the new White House ballroom a \u201cmilitary complex\u201d and arguing it is necessary for national security purposes.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon said it had no information beyond the president\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s announcement also comes as the arch, like his other projects, faces legal challenges. Though the arch has received early approval from the US Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were all tapped by Trump, a group of three veterans and an architectural historian sued, saying the project needs to be approved by Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe President\u2019s belated efforts to manufacture a national security justification for this project do nothing to cure its fundamental illegality,\u201d Nicolas Sansone, one of the attorneys representing the litigants, said Sunday. \u201cCongress has not authorized the arch and unless and until Congress does so, the project should not be permitted to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Republican president said in a social media post that he had agreed, at the \u201cstrong request\u201d of the military, to convert the planned 250-foot-tall (76-meter) memorial arch \u201cinto a top grade Military Complex\/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas, and additionally have and hold large quantities of sniper ammunition in storage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The arch is proposed for a circle adjacent to the Memorial Bridge, which is a heavy traffic area as one of a handful of connecting bridges between the nation\u2019s capital and northern Virginia. Rep. Don Beyer, D-Virginia, who represents the area, noted another potential problem, given the proximity to the Washington airport.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutting a drone launching site directly in the landing path for DCA is a stupid, dangerous, and unworkable idea,\u201d Beyer wrote on X. \u201cTrump clearly expects to lose a lawsuit and therefore wants to set up a pretext to argue that the arch is tied to national security. Which is obviously idiotic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project is one of several that the Republican president is pursuing to leave his lasting imprint on Washington. Among the others are the White House ballroom, renaming and renovating the Kennedy Center, refurbishing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and rebuilding a golf course in East Potomac Park, which could significantly reduce the public\u2019s access to running and biking paths.<\/p>\n
The groundbreaking for the arch was to have happened sometime this month. The project has not yet received final approval from the National Capital Planning Commission, which greenlit the site and preliminary plans at its July meeting. The commission is expected to take up the matter again this fall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n