President Trump is rushing to finish his Washington construction projects before Democrats take control of Congress in two months. The president said this week that the building work is "relaxing." However, angry judges and new political opposition mean his big building plans may soon face a very tough legal showdown.
The president has bulldozed through obstacles as he has sought to remake the face of Washington. But newly empowered Democrats and angry judges are setting up a high-stakes showdown.
Since his party's midterm election drubbing, President Trump has publicly retreated deeper into the big, bold and often-gilded Washington construction projects he sees as a lasting legacy. The construction, he said this week, is "relaxing."
That serenity may not last long. In two short months, Democrats, concerned at the way Mr. Trump has seemingly brushed aside federal law in pursuit of his projects, will take control of Congress and have new powers to begin focusing on them, too. Federal judges also have become increasingly fed up.
The result is a looming high-stakes showdown over Mr. Trump's glitzy building agenda, one that could alter the face of Washington for years to come.
The Trump administration is rushing to push as many projects as far along as possible before January, under the theory that lawmakers and the courts will be less inclined to halt or undo what is already done. That is a lesson Mr. Trump learned in his career as a real estate developer, and one he applied early in his term to abruptly demolish the White House's East Wing and to build a luxury ballroom in its place.
"President Trump is moving at lightning speed because we don't have time to waste in our mission to make America greater than ever before," said Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman.