An anonymous White House official emerged as part of President Donald Trump's push to revive the massive ballroom project. In an appeal to the Supreme Court after a lower court blocked the plan, the unnamed official defended the proposal by calling the ballroom “one of the most beautiful of its kind, anywhere in the country.” That official has now been uncovered.
The line in the court filing released Friday prompted digital chuckles from legal analysts, but it also led many to wonder who it was since the person doesn't rise to the level of a confidential law enforcement source.
"The Solicitor General of the United States, in making a legal argument, also takes the time to quote an official declaration from a White House official waxing rhapsodic about how [beautiful] the President's ballroom will be," said legal expert and American Immigration Council fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick.
Law and security expert Brian Finucane remarked, "another glorious day of executive branch lawyering."
Reichlin-Melnick sifted through the court documents to find the name, and in the appendix it was revealed to be the person Trump has assigned to oversee the full project.
"Joshua Fisher, Director of White House Management and Administration and the person managing the entire ballroom project, so it's brazen for the [solicitor general] to be quoting him as some anonymous official and making the clerks check the cite in the appendix (starts at 441a)," wrote Reichlin-Melnick on BlueSky.
"Here's the full context from his declaration, including that the paragraph is appended randomly at the end of the declaration and has no connection to the rest and, yes, reads like Trump himself wrote it (the SG's office probably wrote it in there specifically to make this argument)," he speculated.
"I have worked closely on this project and have the highest opinion of its final appearance," said Fisher in his statement. "This building is already being adjudged to be one of the most beautiful of its kind, anywhere in the country. To that end, the Supreme Court of the United States and, in particular, its magnificent Corinthian columns — considered the highest column order in architecture — have served as the inspiration for the monumental columns that front the military/ballroom complex. These columns are made from the highest-grade Indiana limestone, which was shipped to Italy, and are being carved by some of the greatest artists anywhere in the world. Delivery and installation will begin shortly."
The filing also makes the case to the Supreme Court that if Trump is required to ask Congress to get involved after the fact, it could be humiliating.
"Forcing the president to come hat-in-hand to Congress so the people's house is safe gives the legislature dangerous leverage," said the filing.
Trump continues to argue that his ballroom is about protecting him. The filing goes so far as to suggest that he needs the ballroom to be constructed, particularly after an "assassination attempt" from the July 8 threat of a missile attack on Air Force One.
