Maryland sues Trump administration for yanking new FBI headquarters out of state

Maryland leaders on Thursday sued the Trump administration for reneging on plans to relocate the FBI’s new headquarters in Prince George’s County.

The lawsuit argues that the White House unlawfully plans to take the $1 billion in congressionally appropriated funds for the Greenbelt site and instead invest that into the Ronald Reagan building in the District.

“The problem with the current FBI building is that it’s too old, too small, and too exposed. So what does the president do? He moves the FBI to another building that is too old, too small, and too exposed,” Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, said in a statement.

“Trump’s actions aren’t just illegal, they lack common sense. And his foolishness will put law enforcement in jeopardy. Greenbelt has been, and still is, the best home for the FBI,” he continued.

The General Services Administration selected Greenbelt as the future site of the FBI’s headquarters in 2023, ending a competitive, yearslong process between local leaders in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs vying to be the agency’s new home.

More than 7,000 employees are expected to call the new headquarters their place of work, and Congress appropriated more than $1.1 billion for the site through a series of laws.

But in July, President Trump announced that he preferred to keep the bureau within city limits.

“They were going to build an FBI headquarters three hours away in Maryland, a liberal state,” Mr. Trump said at the time. “We’re going to stop it, not going to let that happen. We’re going to build another big FBI building right where it is.”

Greenbelt is anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour away from downtown, depending on traffic flows.

The FBI’s current home in the J. Edgar Hoover building along Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest is falling apart — literally.

Nets had been installed around the perimeter to prevent chunks of concrete from breaking off and landing on pedestrians walking by. The building is also plagued with pipe bursts and other infrastructure issues that require constant maintenance.

The lawsuit was filed jointly by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown and Prince George’s County Executive Aisha Braveboy.