Three Trump Cronies, Unqualified to be on the National Capital Planning Commission, expected to rubber-stamp White House Ballroom Project this Thursday
WASHINGTON, D.C. — White House officials James Blair, William Scharf and Stuart Levenbach are not qualified to sit on the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and should not vote on Trump’s $400 million ballroom pet project, which is set for a final public hearing and vote this Thursday, March 5, according to a new Public Citizen report titled Trump’s Three Ballroom Stooges.
In contrast to the three qualified NCP commissioners removed by Trump in July 2025, the three White House officials Trump appointed to replace them include a political operative, a lawyer, and a marine ecologist. A review of their records reveals that neither Blair, nor Scharf nor Levenbach has the necessary “experience in city or regional planning,” which is required by law for them to be eligible to serve on the commission.
Click here to read more about Trump’s cronies and why they should recuse themselves from the ballroom project vote and resign from the National Capital Planning Commission.
Jon Golinger, Public Citizen democracy advocate, who authored the report, will testify after 1 pm ET on March 5 at the NCPC hearing and vote. The commission moved the meeting to a virtual format to escape public scrutiny.
“Congress created this professional planning agency to ensure that federal development projects in the nation’s capital are constructed in a careful, coherent fashion, rather than randomly built because of some developer’s whim or a politician’s bizarre obsession,” said Golinger. “But it’s being made a mockery by three presidential appointees who don’t have the planning experience that’s required by law. They should recuse themselves from the ballroom project vote, resign from this commission and Trump should appoint qualified people with the required planning experience in their place.”
In its continued pressure on the commission to oppose the ballroom project, Public Citizen will also hold a protest from 10 am to 11 am ET outside the National Capital Planning Commission at 401 9th Street NW, Washington, DC .
In January, Public Citizen protested outside the commission’s first meeting calling out the more than two dozen corporate donors and over a dozen billionaires, wealthy individuals and foundations who are backing Trump’s White House ballroom project. Read Public Citizen’s 2025 report, “Banquet of Greed,” which exposes a myriad of conflicts of interest concerns about pay-to-play government contracts and dropped enforcement actions benefiting ballroom donors.