Judge halts FBI plan to relocate headquarters in DC after lawsuit– www.washingtonexaminer.com
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EXCERPT:
A federal judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from moving the FBI headquarters to a federal building in Washington, D.C., after a yearslong battle over the agency’s future home.
The FBI’s current headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, is severely deteriorated and outdated, requiring millions of dollars in maintenance. The Biden administration selected a site in Greenbelt, Maryland, for a new FBI campus after an intense competition over the location. But last year, the Trump administration announced that the FBI would instead move to the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, saying the decision would “support the administration’s goal to optimize the federal real-estate portfolio” and save taxpayer money.
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled Monday that the proposed move violated federal law. He blocked the administration from relocating the FBI to the Reagan building, renovating the facility for the agency, or repurposing funds that Congress had allocated for the new headquarters.
“This is not the first time courts have tried to undermine the administration in its goal to make government more cost-effective for American taxpayers,” the FBI said in a statement. “The court has chosen to impermissibly intervene for political reasons. This FBI is mission focused and will continue the best course of action to meet the needs of law enforcement.”
