Overview
- The three-judge federal panel in Washington on Saturday let work continue through April 17 and told the trial court to clarify how a halt would affect White House security.
- The move pauses a late-March ruling that stopped construction unless Congress approved it, after the district judge said the president is not the owner of the White House.
- The Justice Department argues a stoppage would gravely harm national security because the project is tied to defenses for the presidential complex.
- Reports put the price near $400 million and describe a footprint of about 8,400 square meters with an underground shelter beneath the new hall.
- Trump says private donations remove the need for a vote in Congress, and The New York Times has reported a Europe-based steel company donated steel for the build.