New Lawsuit Demands Response to Public Citizen’s White House Ballroom FOIA Request
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Public Citizen filed a lawsuit against the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior for failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information on the contract to construct a ballroom on White House grounds.
Public Citizen submitted the FOIA request on October 22, 2025, but, despite repeated attempts to follow up, has not received a response from the government.
“The White House has hidden the truth about how the Park Service is being used as a tool to facilitate Trump’s shady ballroom funding scheme,” said Jon Golinger, a democracy advocate with Public Citizen. “But the American people have the right to know who’s doing what to the People’s House and we are going to find the facts.”
“The Trump Administration’s failure to respond to this FOIA request reflects its more general disregard for transparency,” said Wendy Liu, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group and lead counsel on the lawsuit. “The Trump administration is withholding information that the American people have a right to know.”
Public Citizen previously published a report, “Banquet of Greed,” analyzing the government interests of the corporate ballroom donors, including 21 corporations disclosed by the White House and three more identified by news outlets. The report found that two-thirds of corporate donors to the ballroom — 16 of 24 — have entered into government contracts. Lockheed Martin is the largest of these contractors, receiving $191 billion in contracts over the past five years. Other major contractors include Booz Allen Hamilton, Palantir, Microsoft, HP Inc., Caterpillar, Amazon, and Comcast. Collectively, these companies received nearly $43 billion in contracts in 2024 and $279 billion over the past five years.