President Donald Trump’s monumental arch received final approval from a federal panel late Thursday amid an ongoing court battle that could stop construction before it begins.
The National Capital Planning Commission, stacked with Trump allies, voted 8-4 in favor of the 250-foot arch set to be built at Memorial Circle on the west end of Arlington Memorial Bridge, despite overwhelming public opposition to the project. Construction can begin once the Interior Department issues work authorization and the National Park Service publishes notice, both rubber stamps that the administration said could come immediately.
“President Trump’s exceptional leadership has made Washington, D.C., a city worthy of its capital name. He has renovated the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, cleaned up countless statues and fountains,” Mark Paoletta, chair of the National Capital Planning Commission and White House official, said at Thursday’s meeting. “President Trump understands, as president and a superb builder, that it’s important to our national identity to display who we are through grand monuments.”
Despite the approval, the monument’s fate and construction timeline are still up in the air as a federal judge weighs legal challenges that could delay or completely stop construction. Lawsuits filed by three Vietnam War veterans, Arlington County officials and D.C. and Virginia’s attorneys general seek to block the arch, arguing it doesn’t have proper congressional approval, will impede Arlington National Cemetery and create environmental and safety issues.
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U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is considering a joint request from the veterans and attorneys general to pause work until legal proceedings are finished, vowing last week to rule “expeditiously.”
The planning commission hosted its meeting virtually to accommodate massive public interest. Hundreds of people, from Maryland to Michigan, tuned in to watch, and 131 people signed up to speak during public comment. The livestream crashed about an hour into the hearing, when just four people had given their testimony. The video restarted after 30 minutes.
Between insulting commissioners for caving to Trump’s wishes and dogging the arch as a “new toy” and a “personal vanity project,” members of the public asked the panel to “look within your heart” and reject the proposal.
Michael Lemmon, the lead plaintiff in the veterans’ lawsuit, was one of the first to speak and asked the commission to strike down Trump’s monument. Earlier Thursday, before the vote, he stood behind the Lincoln Memorial and looked out across the river at Arlington National Cemetery. Speaking to members of the press, he said the view brings him peace he didn’t often know as a veteran of one of the nation’s most divisive conflicts, and Trump’s arch will take that away.
“I have a duty as a Vietnam vet, as a survivor, to my buddies buried there to honor their sacrifice and protect their memories,” Lemmon said, choking back tears. “The arch would profoundly disturb the peace and tranquility owed them by towering over the dead. … It is frankly blasphemous.”
His testimony echoed the concerns of historic preservationists who worry the arch will limit the historic view corridor that connects Arlington and D.C.
Paoletta said Trump’s arch will fulfill a congressionally approved 1925 plan to erect two slender columns at the end of Arlington Memorial Bridge. The current design of the bridge “dishonors our veterans and leaves a key monumental gateway to Arlington that Congress authorized incomplete,” Paoletta said. “This is a national disgrace.”
The administration has relied on that 1925 plan as justification for the arch’s design, despite his monument clocking in 84 feet taller than the century-old plan. It also touts the arch’s location and stature as an opportunity to act as a military defense complex, housing drone defense systems to protect national security. The plans voted on by the planning commission omit any military infrastructure details.
At the same time Lemmon spoke on the steps behind the Lincoln Memorial, protestors just across the Potomac River near the monument’s planned construction site raised their own bamboo version of Trump’s arch, with a stark red “X” on each side.
Among them, in a yellow safety vest, stood Ralph Nix, a retired Navy veteran who served for 20 years. He called the arch a disgrace not only to veterans, but also to their families.
“The last thing I feel is that an arch to the most corrupt president of the United States needs to be in front of the most sacred ground of people who have lost their lives to defend this country. This guy, he does not deserve it,” Nix said. “He has disgraced the military. He’s spending hundreds of millions of dollars on this arch while at the same time taking away benefits from the veterans.”
The final cost of Trump’s arch is unknown, but estimates place the price at $100 million. It is expected to bring anywhere from 2,000 to 22,000 visitors daily, according to estimates from the administration.
Commissioner Kevin Lilly, an assistant secretary with the Interior Department, said at the beginning of the meeting he would cast his vote not only as a public servant, but as a veteran — and someone with loved ones buried in Arlington cemetery. He said the arch will not take away from the hallowed grounds of the cemetery or act as distraction, but instead will be a tribute to the 430,000 people buried there.
“This arch does not represent partisanship or politics,” Lilly said. “It stands for the courage of those who served, the sacrifices of those who never came home, and, in a greater sense, the triumph of the American spirit and the enduring strength of a nation made possible by sacrifice, commitment, and a faith in God’s providence over our great land.”
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