Public health advocates have sued the Trump administration to force disclosure of whether the hasty demolition of the White House's East Wing exposed workers and the public to asbestos and other hazardous materials, underscoring serious concerns about the project.
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization filed the suit after the administration demolished the historic East Wing structure in just three days in October to make way for President Donald Trump's planned $400 million ballroom, after the organization submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to nine federal agencies in November but received virtually no substantive responses, reported the Washington Post.
“We’re using the law to get the government to respond with the public health information that all Americans deserve to know,” said Linda Reinstein, the organization’s leader.
The lawsuit names as defendants the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Executive Office of the President, accusing them of failing to respond to FOIA requests about efforts to mitigate risks associated with asbestos, which was widely used in building projects at the time of the East Wing’s 1902 construction and 1942 renovation.
The Post's review of decades of asbestos abatement records shows the White House filed permits with D.C.'s Department of Energy and Environment for every major renovation project since 1989 — except the East Wing demolition. No notification was filed before the October demolition, marking a stark departure from precedent across both Republican and Democratic administrations.
The White House claims "extensive" abatement work occurred in September but refuses to provide documentation. Meanwhile, crowds gathered to watch demolition work with potentially hazardous dust swirling in the air, and dirt excavated from the site was trucked to an East Potomac Golf Course near the Potomac River, raising questions about environmental contamination.
Maryland officials stated they found no asbestos waste at a facility where some demolition materials were processed, but they acknowledged not visiting the East Wing site itself and could not share their documentation with reporters.
Deputy EPA administrator Bob Sussman, representing the advocacy organization, emphasized that "FOIA was enacted by Congress so citizens are not kept in the dark about what their government is doing." The administration's refusal to disclose basic safety information violates the spirit and intent of transparency laws.
Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) called the administration's approach "deceptive to the point of being dangerous," noting that lack of transparency extends beyond the ballroom project to military interventions and other consequential decisions lacking public review.
“This Administration is deceptive to the point of being dangerous to the American people,” Markey said in a statement. “Transparency is anathema to Donald Trump.”