3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 17
Summary
U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ordered the Trump administration to drop plans to keep the FBI in Washington, barring FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Todd Blanche from shifting the bureau to the Reagan Building.
Chuang said the administration unlawfully overrode the GSA’s 2023 selection of Greenbelt, Maryland, and tried to redirect congressionally appropriated money without the required architectural plan for a Reagan Building renovation.
The administration had argued a Reagan Building overhaul would cost $1.6 billion versus as much as $2.4 billion for a new Greenbelt campus, while avoiding $300 million in deferred maintenance at the aging Hoover Building.
Maryland and Prince George’s County, which sued in November 2025, cast the ruling as protection for a project they say would bring 7,500 jobs and about $4 billion in investment; a joint status report is due within two weeks.
The fight caps a decade-long search to replace the crumbling Hoover headquarters and could continue if the Trump administration appeals.