Judge blocks Trump administration's bid to scrap Biden-era FBI headquarters plan
A US judge has halted the Trump administration's attempt to move FBI headquarters into Washington's Reagan Building, ruling instead that the previously approved plan for a new facility in Greenbelt, Maryland, must stand. The decision marks the latest turn in a years-long dispute over the bureau's future home.
US District Judge Theodore D. Chuang ruled on Monday that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it scrapped a previously approved plan to build a new FBI headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland. Chuang, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, found the administration's move was not in accordance with law and barred officials from relocating the FBI to the Ronald Reagan Building, renovating it for that purpose, or diverting funds earmarked for the project.
The Greenbelt site was chosen during Joe Biden's presidency, but Trump administration appointees moved last year to reverse that decision in favor of repurposing the Reagan Building, a federal office complex located just a few blocks from the FBI's current headquarters.
In a statement, the FBI criticized the ruling, saying it was not the first time courts had tried to interfere with the administration's effort to make government more cost-effective, and accused the court of impermissibly intervening for political reasons. The bureau said it remained focused on its mission and would pursue the best path forward for law enforcement's needs.
The lawsuit was filed by the state of Maryland and Prince George's County. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, said the state and county had spent more than a decade working to secure the FBI headquarters and had pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, adding that the ruling cleared the way for the project to return to Greenbelt. Maryland Governor Wes Moore, also a Democrat, called for an end to delays and urged officials to proceed with building the headquarters in Prince George's County.
The FBI's current headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, was dedicated in 1975. Supporters of relocating the agency have pointed to the brutalist structure's disrepair, noting that netting surrounds the building to protect pedestrians from falling debris. The Maryland site was originally selected after a fierce competition with neighboring Virginia.
