Stock image of a sick person. (Guido Mieth/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Flu activity is starting to decline nationwide, according to newly released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC estimated on Friday that there have been at least 19 million illnesses, 250,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths from flu so far this season.
Currently, seven states are seeing “very high” levels of flu-like illnesses while 23 states are seeing “high” levels, CDC data shows.
At least 12 flu-associated deaths were reported among children this week, for a total of 44 pediatric deaths this season. Last season saw a record-breaking 289 children die from flu, the highest since the CDC began tracking in 2004.
Despite flu activity on the decline, flu-related emergency department visits for school-aged children between ages 5 and 17 increased since last week while hospitalizations remained stable.
“I think what distinguished this year’s flu season to previous seasons is that, first of all, it began a little bit earlier,” Dr. Daniel Kurtzikes, former chief of infectious diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told ABC News.
Kuritzkes added that although data does not show that cases increased more dramatically than last year, “we may have perceived it as being worse than it really was, and it now seems like it peaked rather abruptly and is on a rapid decline.”
However, Kuritzkes noted that last year, flu season had a second bump in late winter. He warned that the same thing could happen this year.
Data shows that the majority of this season’s cases are linked to a new flu strain called subclade K — a variant of the H3N2 virus, which is itself a subtype of influenza A.
Subclade K has been circulating since the summer in other countries and was a main driver of a spike in flu cases in Canada, Japan and the U.K.
Dr. Geeta Sood, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, explained that the annual flu vaccine formulation was decided before subclade K emerged, meaning the vaccine is a “mismatch” for the strain, to an extent, while still providing protection against serious disease, hospitalization and death.
“So, this year, we have a couple of problems,” she told ABC News. “One is that the circulating strain that’s predominantly out there is pretty different from the strains that we’ve seen in previous years. … Again, it changes every year, but the amount that it changes can be a lot some years and not so much other years.”
However, she said that early data from the U.K. shows that the vaccine has been protective against serious complications, particularly among children.
“It certainly protects against severe disease, but it’s not one of our best matching vaccines,” Sood said.
Another problem, according to Sood, is that vaccination rates are lower than she would like to see.
As of Jan. 10, 45.6% of adults aged 18 and older and 44.2% of children have received an annual flu vaccine, according to CDC data.
Sood said it’s not too late to get vaccinated, especially because influenza season can last through early spring.
“Even though it takes two weeks to get full immunity, you still get immunity sooner rather than later,” she said. “There’s still plenty of influenza out there, and there’s reactivity to protect you against other strains”
Doctors told ABC News they recommend other hygiene methods, including thoroughly washing hands with soap and water, avoiding crowded places, getting good circulation by opening windows and considering masking.
Richard Zhang, MD, MA, is a child and adolescent psychiatry fellow at Yale School of Medicine and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, after speaking in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Renaud Philippe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump rescinded an invitation for Canada to join his newly-formed “Board of Peace” amid his escalating feud with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The move, which Trump announced late Thursday in a social media post, came after Carney’s headline-making speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he warned the rules-based international order largely steered by American hegemony was in the midst of a “rupture.”
“Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump posted online as he returned to Washington from Switzerland.
Trump hosted a signing ceremony for his Board of Peace on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum earlier this week. More than two dozen countries have signed on so far, including Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, though notably none of the U.S.’s major European allies have done so. France, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom have either declined the invitation or expressed significant reservations about the board. The Vatican said Pope Leo, the first American pope, has been asked to join the board and is evaluating the invitation.
Carney, in his address to the gathering of government officials and business leaders, called on middle powers to come together to avoid falling victim to coercion from larger and more powerful nations.
“Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” Carney said.
Carney added, “We shouldn’t allow the rise of hard power to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy, integrity and rules will remain strong, if we choose to wield them together.”
The Canadian leader, without explicitly mentioning Trump by name, also directly criticized the U.S. threat of tariffs for U.S. allies that opposed Trump’s aim to acquire Greenland and made clear Canada’s support for the Danish territory’s sovereignty.
President Trump, the next day, swiped at Carney’s remarks and said the U.S.’s northern neighbor should be “grateful.”
“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us. By the way, they should be grateful also, but they’re not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful. They should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” Trump said in his WEF speech.
Carney pushed back on Trump in remarks delivered in Quebec City on Thursday.
“Canada and the United States have built a remarkable partnership in the economy, in security, and in rich cultural exchange,” Carney said. “But Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
Tensions have flared between Trump and Carney for months over tariffs and over Trump’s repeated calls since his return to office to have Canada become the 51st state of the U.S.
In this booking photo released by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Michael McKee is shown. (Franklin County Sheriff’s Office)
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — The surgeon accused of gunning down his ex-wife and her husband entered a not guilty plea at his first appearance in an Ohio courtroom on Friday.
Michael McKee faces four counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated burglary for allegedly shooting and killing his ex-wife, Monique Tepe, and her husband, dentist Spencer Tepe, at their Columbus home on Dec. 30, according to police and prosecutors.
McKee, who was taken into custody in Illinois, was booked into the James A. Karnes Corrections Center in Franklin County, Ohio, on Tuesday.
McKee appeared via video at Friday’s brief hearing and did not speak.
His defense attorney, Diane Menashe, told the court, “We acknowledge receipt, waive reading, enter not guilty pleas to all counts.”
“We would also waive bond at this time,” she added.
McKee and Monique Tepe were married in 2015 and divorced in 2017, according to divorce records obtained by ABC Columbus affiliate WSYX. They did not have any children together, according to the records.
Spencer and Monique Tepe married in December 2020, according to their obituary. The Tepes are survived by their two young children, who were found safe inside their home after the Dec. 30 killings.
“We just want justice,” the Tepes’ brother-in-law, Rob Misleh, told ABC News.
“We want this person that took so much from, not just us as a family, but so many more people. And obviously the kids, especially. We want this person to pay for what they did,” he said.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin and Jason Volack contributed to this report.
Luigi Mangione appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 9, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Jury selection for Luigi Mangione’s federal trial will begin on Sept. 8, Judge Margaret Garnett said on Friday.
If the judge excludes the death penalty as a possible sentence, the trial will begin on Oct. 13. If the judge allows the case to proceed as a capital case, the trial will begin on Jan. 11, 2027.
Garnett is considering a defense request to take the death penalty off the table.
Mangione is accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December 2024. He was arrested days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges.
The scheduled jury selection date comes as Garnett weighs whether Mangione’s backpack was lawfully seized and searched after his arrest at the Altoona McDonald’s.
Federal prosecutors contend the Altoona Police Department’s search of Mangione’s backpack followed departmental procedures and evidence recovered from the bag should be admissible.
During a hearing Friday, Deputy Altoona Police Chief Nathan Snyder explained how officers are trained in search and seizure policies using “task sheets” that outline the process step by step.
“We’re not dealing with a 10-year veteran who may understand the lingo. This is a brand-new guy fresh out of the academy,” Snyder said.
Mangione’s lawyers have argued the backpack search was illegal. They contend that if the arresting officers had followed the procedures, they would not have had immediate access to the items in the bag, including the alleged murder weapon, a notebook and writings.
“There’d be no reason to read entries in a notebook or journal?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked.
“Typically not something that would be done,” Snyder responded.
“There’d be no reason to read each page?” Agnifilo followed up.
“I’d say that’s correct,” Snyder answered.
Body camera footage showed that officers also pulled a firearm magazine from the backpack during a preliminary search at the McDonald’s.
“If you found something illegal,” Agnifilo asked, “would you do anything other than continue?”
Snyder responded that the search would likely stop and officers would “probably get a search warrant.”
When prosecutor Dominic Gentile asked specifically about something dangerous, like a firearm magazine, Snyder said the search would “surely” continue without a warrant so officers could make sure there was “nothing in here that can hurt us.”
Ryan Wedding of Canada competes in the qualifying round of the men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding event during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games at the Park City Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah, Feb. 14, 2002. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Ryan Wedding, the former Olympic snowboarder investigators said has been leading a major drug ring, was arrested Friday, multiple sources told ABC News.
The 44-year-old Canadian has been on the FBI’s Most Wanted list in connection with indictments that allege he is responsible for trafficking “multi-ton quantities of cocaine” from Colombia and connected with several murders for hire in Canada and Mexico.
Wedding was previously indicted in Los Angeles federal court on multiple federal charges, including running a continuing criminal enterprise, committing murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and assorted drug crimes.
A superseding indictment was filed in November, alleging that Wedding ordered the killing of a witness who was set to testify against him in a federal drug trafficking case, according to the Justice Department.
Prior to starting his alleged criminal enterprise, Wedding, whose alleged aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant” and “Public Enemy,” was a professional snowboarder and competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
He is also facing similar charges in Canada, according to Canadian authorities.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay on the field before the preseason game against the Cleveland Browns at Lucas Oil Stadium on August 17, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The death of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay is now under federal investigation, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The FBI and the DEA are investigating the 65-year-old Irsay’s death in May at the Beverly Hills Hotel along with the California addiction specialist who had been treating him with opioids and ketamine, the sources said.
Dr. Harry Haroutunian signed the death certificate that said the cause was cardiac arrest due to pneumonia, according to a copy of the document obtained by ABC News. There was no autopsy, the certificate said.
Haroutunian did not respond to an ABC News request for comment.
The FBI declined to confirm or deny the investigation, which was first reported by the Washington Post.
Irsay was the billionaire owner of the Colts for nearly 30 years, celebrating a Super Bowl victory with Peyton Manning in 2007. He was open about his life-long struggle with addiction.
“We are aware of the investigation, but at this time, we’ve not been contacted by the FBI or been served with any subpoenas,” the Colts said in a statement provided to ABC News.
The use of ketamine to treat addiction was the subject of an investigation into the 2023 death of Matthew Perry. Five people ended up facing criminal charges in the Perry case with one doctor being sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for distributing ketamine to the actor.
The investigation into Irsay’s death is in its early stages, the sources said.
(LONDON) — Delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States are set to hold trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates on Friday in what officials say will be the first trilateral meeting since Russia launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine almost four years ago in February 2022.
The talks — planned for Friday and Saturday in Abu Dhabi — will be at a technical level and not include heads of state but is still a notable diplomatic engagement amid the ongoing fighting.
Administration officials for U.S. President Donald Trump have projected confidence over reaching a deal in recent days, saying territorial control of eastern Ukraine is the last remaining sticking point. But that issue is arguably the most difficult and many experts remain skeptical an agreement is possible yet.
President Trump’s lead negotiators special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner met for four hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin into the early hours of Friday. But the Kremlin afterwards indicated there was no breakthrough and vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes all of its Donbas region and agrees to a number of other heavy Russian demands.
Ahead of the meeting with Putin Witkoff on Thursday said that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are now down to “one issue.”
“And we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable,” Witkoff said in Davos Thursday.
When Trump was asked what concessions Putin needs to make during the upcoming talks, Trump didn’t mention any specifics but did indicate that concessions from Putin are on the table.
“He’ll make concessions,” Trump said. “Everybody’s making concessions to get it done.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos at the World Economic Forum on Thursday. The talks between the two lasted for about an hour.
“This is the last mile, which is the most difficult,” Zelenskyy said following the meeting. “The dialogue is not easy, but it was positive,”
After the meeting, however, Zelenskyy issued a sharp rebuke to Europe for not doing enough to stop Russia.
“Too often, Europeans turn against each other — leaders, parties, movements, and communities — instead of standing together to stop Russia, which brings the same destruction to everyone. Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small and middle powers,” Zelenskyy said.
“Instead of taking the lead in defending freedom worldwide — especially when America’s focus shifts elsewhere — Europe looks lost, trying to convince the U.S. president to change,” he continued.
Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin along with Josh Gruenbaum, who has been newly appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to his Board of Peace.
On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, according to the Kremlin.
Speaking to journalists afterwards, Ushakov indicated Putin will still only accept an agreement that hands control of Donbas to Russia, as Moscow alleges was outlined during the summit between Putin and Trump in Alaska last summer.
“The main thing is that during these negotiations between our president and the Americans, it was once again stated that without resolving the territorial issue according to the formula agreed in Anchorage, one should not expect to achieve a long-term settlement,” Ushakov continued.
Ushakov maintained that the Russian Federation is sincerely interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis through political and diplomatic methods, but wouldn’t retreat on the battlefield during negotiations.
“While this is not the case, Russia will continue to consistently achieve the goals set for the special military operation on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces have a strategic initiative,” Ushakov said.
Russia’s invasion has killed hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers, razed whole Ukrainian cities and forced over 5 million to flee the country, according to the United Nations.
The American delegation shared with Putin “first-hand” their assessments of the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in Davos, according to the Russian delegation.
“Our security negotiating group has already been formed and will fly to the Emirates in the coming hours. It includes representatives of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, headed by Admiral Kostyukov, Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff, ” Ushakov said.
In Davos, Zelenskyy suggested he doubted Russia is ready to reach a peace deal, saying “I am not sure Putin wants to end this war in the situation where he is.”
“Maybe they want to find compromises. We are open to different steps, and I said that there are two sides that compromise,” said Zelenskyy. “Russians will not win this war. They did not win and will not.”
ABC News’ Mariam Khan, Patrick Reevell and Will Gretzky contributed to this report.
Denmark’s then-Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod speaks to the press in Brussels, Belgium, on July 18, 2022. (Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images_
(LONDON )– Denmark’s new government was less than two months old when U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign to acquire Greenland broke into public view in the summer of 2019.
“We thought it was unprecedented,” recalled former Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod, who then was in post and suddenly tasked with a transcontinental fire drill.
Trump’s desire for what he at the time called “essentially a large real estate deal” threw a wrench in the works of a planned state visit by the president to Denmark. The president ultimately cancelled the trip, saying Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had shown “no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland.”
Frederiksen at the time rejected Trump’s proposal as “absurd.”
Kofod, who has since left Danish politics, told ABC News in an interview on Tuesday that the 2019 saga was “a really bad situation for the bilateral relationship.”
“We also saw it as offending a close ally,” Kofod recalled. “We were very surprised that the first major comments he had were, ‘Why can’t I just buy Greenland?'”
Copenhagen, he said, never considered formulating a price for Greenland’s potential sale.
At the time, though, Danish leaders did not believe Trump was “determined” to force a U.S. acquisition of the world’s largest island, Kofod said. Rather, the Danish government saw the proposal as a means to foster more U.S. engagement in and influence over Greenland.
Nearly seven years later, Kofod’s successors — again under the leadership of Frederiksen — have faced a more protracted and aggressive campaign from Washington. Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. will acquire Greenland — “one way or another,” he said earlier this month.
Greenland is a self-governing territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Trump’s second term has seen the president double down on his ambition to acquire the minerals-rich island — despite Danish and Greenlandic politicians repeatedly rebuffing him.
Trump has suggested that U.S. sovereignty over Greenland is necessary to ensure American security and blunt Chinese and Russian influence in the Arctic region. A 1951 defense agreement already grants the U.S. military access to Greenland, but Trump has suggested the accord is inadequate and has demanded “ownership.”
The issue dominated this week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Trump said in a Wednesday address that he would not use military force to seize control of the Arctic landmass.
On Wednesday, Trump said during the event that a “framework” of a deal had been reached on Greenland after talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Details of the purported agreement are yet to be revealed.
Frederikson said in a Thursday morning statement that Copenhagen “cannot negotiate on our sovereignty.”
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said at a Thursday press conference that Nuuk is “willing to do more in a NATO frame,” but also said they have some “red lines” including territorial integrity, international law and sovereignty.
In Davos on Wednesday, Trump said that Greenland’s mineral deposits are “not the reason we need it,” though also said the professed deal “puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and to minerals.”
Trump’s professed security concerns have prompted Danish efforts to increase military spending in the Arctic and the deployment of small contingents of NATO troops to Greenland.
But the deployments — which the eight European nations involved said were for military exercises to enhance the defense of the region — prompted Trump at the time to threaten new tariffs against the American allies starting on Feb. 1 unless the U.S. was able to acquire Greenland.
That raised the prospect of a new transatlantic trade war, though Trump said Wednesday that he would drop the tariffs citing the purported deal.
European and allied leaders have said they are open to deeper and broader cooperation with the U.S. in Greenland, to address American security concerns and to develop shared commercial opportunities across the mammoth, resources-rich territory.
For Kofod — who said his time in office saw Copenhagen and Washington forge a “path forward” despite tensions over Greenland — any deal should be twinned with a European show of force.
“The first step is power,” Kofod said. Trump may soften his attacks “if he sees that he will have all of Europe — including the U.K., France, Germany — against him, and they are ready to defend Greenland,” Kofod said, plus if he sees that European “retaliation is so massive that it will hurt the U.S. economy and interests.”
“Trump plays with all the instruments he has. Europe has to learn to play the power game,” Kofod said, and “move him to a narrower path if this is going to stop.”
The Danish and Greenlandic experience in 2019 bears striking similarities to 2026. Then, as now, Trump set off a diplomatic storm by repeatedly declaring his ambitions to take control of Greenland.
In both instances, Copenhagen and the Greenlandic government in its capital Nuuk responded by expressing openness to further collaboration, stressing the importance of sovereignty and dispatching a high-level delegation for talks in Washington.
Kofod said the de-escalation of tensions in 2019 was achieved through closer cooperation and modernization in the security sphere. “We took the security concerns of Trump very seriously,” he said.
The period spanning Trump’s first term and that of his successor, President Joe Biden, saw the U.S. reopen its consulate in Nuuk, modernize the Thule Air Base — since renamed to the Pituffik Space Base — and agree a new economic cooperation strategy in Greenland.
Copenhagen and Nuuk, Kofod said, encouraged “constructive engagement” with the U.S. in investment, education programs, tourism and other areas.
Similar measures might help ease the current round of pressure in the High North, Kofod said.
But he added that the future of the Arctic — which was long considered an area of scientific work largely free of geopolitical tensions — will be inextricably tied to security considerations.
Climate change, the subsequent melting of pack ice and the opening of new sea lanes is making the Arctic more navigable and — potentially — more lucrative. Russia’s 15,000 miles of Arctic coastline puts Moscow at the forefront in the region, while China’s declaration of itself as a “near-Arctic state” indicates Beijing’s long-term interest there.
“That’s why Trump is right on the concern about security in the future of the Arctic,” Kofod said. “Any U.S. president will find Greenland key to defending North America and the United States.”
Trump’s efforts “fit his ideology,” Kofod said, saying his bid to acquire Greenland despite broad opposition aligns with the “Donroe Doctrine” — a play on the 1823 Monroe Doctrine by which the U.S. said it would block European interference in the Western Hemisphere — which has in recent weeks been professed by members of Trump’s administration and noted by the president himself.
“There is something to that, that I think Europe hasn’t taken seriously enough,” Kofod said. “But now they are taking it seriously.”
The turbulence will undermine European, American and collective NATO security, Kofod warned.
“For the U.S. it’s also a big self-inflicted problem,” he said. “But I don’t think Trump looks at the world like that. He thinks that NATO is there, it’s important, but it’s not something you cannot live without, because you just can form another alliance.”
At his arraignment on Friday, the court is expected to hear arguments on whether McKee can be released on bond or must be held until trial. He has not entered a plea.
McKee and Monique Tepe were married in 2015 and divorced in 2017, according to divorce records obtained by ABC Columbus affiliate WSYX. They did not have any children together, according to the records.
Spencer and Monique Tepe married in December 2020, according to their obituary. The Tepes are survived by their two young children who were found safe inside their home after the Dec. 30 killings.
“We just want justice,” the Tepes’ brother-in-law, Rob Misleh, told ABC News.
“We want this person that took so much from, not just us as a family, but so many more people. And obviously the kids, especially. We want this person to pay for what they did,” he said.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin and Jason Volack contributed to this report.
An excavator works to clear rubble after the East Wing of the White House was demolished, Oct. 23, 2025. (Eric Lee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The federal judge presiding over a challenge to the White House ballroom project signaled deep skepticism of the Trump administration’s argument that the president has the legal authority to undertake the East Wing renovations and to fund them with private donations.
In a hearing on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon pressed an administration lawyer on both of those issues — as he questioned whether the president has the power to tear down part of what he called “an icon that’s a national institution,” and described the intent to fund it with private gifts as a “Rube Goldberg contraption” that would evade congressional oversight.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit last month seeking to stop the ballroom construction until the project completes the federal review process standard for federal building projects and the administration seeks public comment on the proposed changes.
The National Trust, the privately funded nonprofit designated by Congress to protect historic sites, was seeking a preliminary injunction.
At the end of the hour-long hearing Thursday, Judge Leon said he will likely not issue a decision this month, but “hopefully” in February. He said he expects the losing side to appeal.
In a statement provided to ABC News, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said: “President Trump is working 24/7 to Make America Great Again, including his historic beautification of the White House, at no taxpayer expense. These long-needed upgrades will benefit generations of future presidents and American visitors to the People’s House.”
The size and cost of the project have increased since first being unveiled. In November, Trump said the project would cost $400 million, after an initial estimate of $200 million. The White House has said the project will be funded by private donations.
Judge Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, said the Trump administration appears to be making an “end run” around congressional oversight with the president’s plan to privately raise $400 million for the ballroom project, and he admonished the Justice Department’s lawyer to “be serious” in justifying a legal rationale for it.
While the case presents a series of complicated and overlapping legal issues, the judge spent much of the hearing focused on just two federal statutes — one, which says that no “building or structure” can be built on any federal public grounds in the District of Columbia “without express authority of Congress,” and another that calls for yearly appropriations for the “maintenance, repair, alteration, refurnishing [and] improvement” of the White House.
Leon noted that Republicans control both houses of Congress, and that the president could have gone to lawmakers to seek approval for the demolition and rebuild. He also suggested the $2.5 million Congress recently appropriated for White House maintenance was for “very small-size projects,” not a ballroom.
Justice Department lawyer Yaakov Roth responded that Trump didn’t want $400 million in taxpayer money to be used for the project, when he could solicit gifts to the National Park Service to fund it instead. Roth also noted that Congress was never asked in Gerald Ford’s era to approve the building of a swimming pool, or a tennis pavilion during Trump’s first term.
“[Your argument for using NPS’s gift authority] on an icon that’s a national treasure is, what? The ’77 Gerald Ford swimming pool?” Leon asked. “You compare that to ripping down the East Wing? C’mon! Be serious.”
Leon said he saw “no basis” in the legislative history of the park service’s gift authority that would allow Trump to use it to raise $400 million to build a new White House ballroom. “None,” Leon said. “Zero.”
Arguing for the National Trust, attorney Tad Heuer described the president as a “temporary tenant of the White House, not the landlord.” Leon suggested “steward” might be a more fitting term.
“He is not the owner,” Heuer said.
As Roth took the podium to begin his argument on behalf of the administration, he attempted to convince the judge that the National Trust has no standing to sue. Leon abruptly cut him off.
“I’m very comfortable with standing in this case,” Leon said. “Sorry to disappoint you. You’ll get your chance at the Court of Appeals.”
Roth warned the judge that an order halting construction at this stage could expose the existing White House structure to damage and potentially lead to security concerns, since it’s widely believed that a replacement for a previously-existing underground bunker is part of the project. The National Trust has said it would not object to continued construction on the security portion of the work.
“It can’t be divided out that way,” Roth said of the security-related construction, “unless we want the court to be the project manager on site.”
Leon declined to issue an order from the bench. He said the coming winter storm made it unlikely he would issue a ruling on the National Trust’s motion for a preliminary injunction before the end of this month.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddard contributed to this report.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story misidentified an attorney for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The story has been corrected and updated.
