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WASHINGTON — <\/span>Preservationists are pressing ahead with their lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s planned $400 million White House ballroom, declining a request by the Department of Justice to withdraw the complaint following the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump and other conservatives have made a renewed push for the ballroom in the wake of Saturday’s media dinner shooting, arguing it exposed the difficulties in ensuring presidential security<\/a> at large events outside the White House grounds, and urging the National Trust for Historic Preservation to drop its lawsuit.<\/p>\n Top Justice officials said the government would ask a court to dismiss the lawsuit \u201cin light of last night\u2019s extraordinary events” if the Trust did not voluntarily drop it.<\/p>\n Trust attorney Gregory Craig declined that request, writing to the Justice Department that the legal issues at the heart of the lawsuit are unchanged.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Saturday\u2019s awful event does not change is that the Constitution and multiple federal statutes require Congress to authorize construction of a ballroom on White House grounds, and that Congress has not done so,” Craig wrote.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately return a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n The preservation group sued in December, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing<\/a> to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people. Trump says the project is funded by private donations, although public money is paying for a below-ground bunker and security upgrades.<\/p>\n In its lawsuit<\/a>, the Trust argued that Trump had overstepped his authority by moving forward with the project without first getting approval from key federal agencies and Congress.<\/p>\n A federal appeals court<\/a> has allowed Trump to continue the project, ruling a day after a lower court judge continued to block<\/a> above-ground construction on the site and scheduling a June 5 hearing to review the case. <\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Meg Kinnard can be reached at http:\/\/x.com\/MegKinnardAP<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n