Trump has a standoff with the architect of a giant hall at the White House, says newspaper

McCrery stayed on the project to prevent someone else from coming in and designing something inferior. The architect, sources said, did not clash with Trump and kept criticism quiet as he worked to deliver the president’s rushed revisions to the project. He denied interview requests from TWP.

Architect was handpicked to work on Trump’s work. James McCrery is a classical architect, university professor and director of McCrery Architects. He is responsible for works such as the US Supreme Court and the pedestal for President Ronald Reagan’s statue in the US Capitol. The White House ballroom is the biggest project his office has ever undertaken.

Controversies on the way

The project is the apple of the president’s eye in Washington. Both the sources who spoke to the newspaper and other government officials report the focus that Trump has invested in building the hall. According to several of them, the president closely supervised the project and held frequent meetings to discuss issues such as design and materials.

Newspaper highlights the president’s standard behavior since his time as a businessman. The recent disagreement with the architect is not the first in the process, and reinforces the image of a president who acts despite the objections of historical preservationists and other citizens who point out the lack of public participation in the project, undertaken on a public property. According to TWP, Trump repeats the pattern of behavior as a businessman since assuming the presidency, imposing his ideas in the “who’s going to stop me?” mentality, honed by years as a real estate developer.