President Donald Trump's rush to build a hideously ostentatious ballroom at the White House could run afoul of federal law, as he has yet to seek approval for the project that he claims will begin next month, The Washington Post reported.

Federal law requires that Trump seek approval for the project from the National Capital Planning Commission, which was created in 1924 to review "the design of federal and certain local projects."

"Three former planning commission members told The Washington Post that a review of any exterior construction project at the White House is required by federal law," The Washington Post reported.

The NCPC usually takes years to approve projects to ensure that they are safe and do not compromise the historic building. And given that Trump hasn't even submitted the project for approval, that would make it impossible to start construction in September.

It's unclear if Trump, who thinks the law doesn’t apply to him, will pause the project that will double the footprint of the White House in order to seek the proper approval, or go ahead and build the ballroom anyway. 

We don’t have to remind you that he incited a violent and deadly insurrection to try to remain in power after losing the 2020 presidential election, and never faced any sort of punishment or repercussion for it thanks to the courts he stacked with right-wing hacks letting him avoid accountability. If he faced no consequences for something as blatantly illegal and traitorous as that, why would he be deterred from ignoring a law about construction?

As for his quest to ruin the White House, Trump has already defiled the historic building by adorning the Oval Office with hideous and cheap-looking gilded ornaments all over the walls. He also paved over the Rose Garden and put tacky tables with umbrellas that look a lot like the furniture at his gaudy Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. And he added two gigantic flagpoles that make the White House lawn look like a used car lot.

Indeed, former NCPC Chair L. Preston Bryant Jr., who resigned in 2019, told The Washington Post that those flagpoles probably needed NCPC approval, but did not go through approval channels.

Trump, for his part, is super jazzed about adding a ballroom to the building, so much so that he took a walk on the roof of the White House last week to seemingly survey the land. So there's a good bet that he will go forward with his out-of-touch ballroom project with or without permission.

Republished with permission from Daily Kos.