Judge blocks Trump's plan to keep FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Published Aug 18, 02:51 PM UTC

A federal judge in Maryland, Theodore Chuang, blocked President Donald Trump's plan to keep the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., ruling that the decision illegally discarded the General Services Administration's (GSA) congressionally approved 2023 plan to build a new complex in Greenbelt, Maryland. Congress had required the GSA to select a suburban site outside D.C., and the Biden administration chose Greenbelt after nearly 15 years of debate. Trump attempted to reverse this by moving the FBI to the Ronald Reagan Building, prompting a lawsuit from Maryland. The judge barred the administration from moving the FBI to the Reagan Building or diverting about $1 billion in funding approved for the Greenbelt campus. The ruling is likely not the end of the dispute, and the FBI continues to operate from its aging J. Edgar Hoover Building.