A new report revealed on Wednesday that Donald Trump’s administration is looking for millions of dollars from the next coronavirus bill in order to rebuild the FBI headquarters on its current spot and to renovate the West Wing.
According to the Associated Press, the plan to rebuild the FBI headquarters on its current spot would be more expensive than plans to relocate to Virginia, which could block competitors from snapping up real estate near President Donald Trump’s Washington, D.C. hotel.
“The sum, included in the draft aid legislation from Senate Republicans, would also cover a new security screening facility for the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House complex,” reported Zeke Miller. “While lawmakers, including Republicans, have balked at the administration’s request for more than $1 billion in the bill for a new FBI headquarters in Washington, the West Wing plan has drawn relatively little scrutiny. The administration says the White House work would ‘increase the White House campus’s ability to detect, mitigate and alleviate external security and pandemic threats.’”
The report notes that no full upgrade of the West Wing has taken place since 1933, and that “renovations have been planned and delayed by previous administrations — most recently by President Barack Obama in 2013 — in part because no president has wanted to temporarily give up the Oval Office for months or longer to allow for the substantial work to be done.”
