Fine arts panel gives initial approval to Trump’s ‘triumphal arch’ but asks for design revisions
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, near an artist’s rendering of President Donald Trump’s planned Triumphal Arch during a news conference on April 15, 2026. (Mattie Neretin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot-tall “triumphal arch” at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was given initial approval on Thursday by the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency, but revisions were requested to address the panel’s design concerns.
Five members on the commission, now made up entirely of Trump appointees, voted in favor of moving along with the project. The panel’s other two members were not present for the hearing.
The towering arch Trump wants to build near Arlington National Cemetery would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial and taller than France’s Arc de Triomphe.
Protesters gathered outside the National Building Museum, where the commission has its office, and held up signs that read: “Stop Arch Insanity,” “No Trump Arch,” and “No Vanity Arch.”
The commission’s vote came after Thomas Luebke, its secretary, said nearly 1,000 public comments were submitted online and that “100% of the comments were against the project.”
Luebke said many of the comments characterized the project as “a waste of money and misuse of funds” and others said “that it would obstruct historic views and disrupt the landscape, it was inappropriate imperial or political symbolism, that the design was gaudy, oversized, incompatible, and that it was disrespectful to Arlington National Cemetery and military sacrifice.”
James McCrery, the commission’s vice chair and the initial architect behind Trump’s massive White House ballroom project, voiced a laundry list of concerns that he wants the architects of the arch to address.
McCrery opposed a planned 250-foot underground pathway for visitors to access the arch, saying building under the capital is “a really, really unfortunate thing.”
“Sometimes it’s absolutely necessary,” McCrery told Nicolas Charbonneau, the architect behind the arch. “Here, I think it’s not absolutely necessary at all.”
McCrery also took issue with proposed lion statues at the base of the arch, arguing they were not culturally American symbols.
“They’re not of this continent,” McCrery said. “They’re noble, they’re courageous, and they’re strong, they’re all those things, but maybe there are alternatives.”
And McCrery called on the architects to “open these arches and air them out” so they don’t obstruct views of other Washington landmarks.
Zachary Burt, the community outreach manager for the D.C. Preservation League, voiced his opposition to the arch during Thursday’s meeting.
Burt said the arch “threatens the solemn vista” between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial and that its proposed size “risks overshadowing the revered landmarks that Americans hold in the highest regard.”
Lisa Fuller, who said she was a lifelong Washington-area resident, grew emotional recounting crossing Arlington Memorial Bridge as a kid as she argued the arch would obstruct views of the cemetery.
“I first walked across that bridge with my dad after John Kennedy died. We started at the Lincoln Memorial. My father told me all about it, and then we walked across, and we saw the Eternal Flame,” Fuller said.
: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to media gathered on the first day of school at Deerwood Elementary on September 2, 2025 in Eagan, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, announced Monday that he would drop his bid for reelection as governor, saying that he would not be able to give a campaign all of his attention as he works to defend Minnesota against allegations of fraud and right-wing attacks — including from President Donald Trump.
“In September, I announced that I would run for a historic third term as Minnesota’s Governor. And I have every confidence that, if I gave it my all, I would succeed in that effort,” Walz wrote in a statement Monday.
“But as I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all. Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences.”
Walz, who served as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in 2024, had come under fire in recent weeks amid allegations of fraud in child-care centers in Minnesota. Walz had said the state was investigating alleged fraud and slammed how rhetoric targeting the state’s Somali community about the allegations could put people at risk.
“I know this news may come as a surprise. But I’m passing on the race with zero sadness and zero regret. After all, I didn’t run for this job so I could have this job. I ran for this job so I could do this job. Minnesota faces an enormous challenge this year. And I refuse to spend even one minute of 2026 doing anything other than rising to meet the moment. Minnesota has to come first — always,” Walz wrote.
Walz was the subject of Trump’s frequent criticism — with the president claiming he was “a Crooked Governor” in a recent social media post.
Walz would have made history if he won the governorship in 2026, as previously no Minnesota governor has won a third consecutive four-year term.
His exit from the race currently leaves Democrats without a major candidate in the race, although other major names may be set to jump in soon.
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar met with Walz over the weekend about a possible bid for governor, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.
This comes as a source close to Klobuchar tells ABC News that she’s been getting a lot of outreach encouraging her to run. She is considering the bid, according to the source, but hasn’t made a final decision.
Representatives for Klobuchar, who won reelection to the Senate in 2024, did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
The Democratic Governors Association, the arm of the Democratic Party focused on electing Democratic governors, released a statement on Monday praising Walz for his work without endorsing any other potential candidates.
“No matter who decides to run or how much national Republicans want to spend, the DGA remains very confident Minnesotans will elect another strong Democratic governor this November,” DGA chair and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear wrote in a statement.
On the Republican side, longtime Trump loyalist and CEO of MyPillow Mike Lindell announced in December that he is running for governor of Minnesota. Lindell has already been endorsed by Trump.
Walz also has been viewed as a potential 2028 presidential hopeful, and visited a few key presidential battleground states in 2025, although he has previously downplayed the prospect of running for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Walz, in his statement announcing he would not seek reelection, had harsh words for Trump and Republicans who have excoriated the state for alleged child-care fraud and said that it occurred on Walz’s watch.
“I won’t mince words here,” Walz wrote. “Donald Trump and his allies — in Washington, in St. Paul, and online — want to make our state a colder, meaner place.”
Saying that the state government had taken steps to investigate fraud, and continues to work on combating it, Walz said Minnesota “will win the fight against the fraudsters. But the political gamesmanship we’re seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder to win.”
Republicans celebrated Walz’s announcement on Monday. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Republican representing Minnesota, wrote in a short statement reacting to Walz’s announcement, “Good riddance.”
“It’s been failure after failure for Tim Walz, so it’s no surprise he chickened out of running for re-election,” Republican National Committee Regional Communications Director Delanie Bomar wrote in a separate statement on Monday.
Minnesota has been under scrutiny in recent weeks over yearslong investigations and controversies about alleged fraud in child-care centers.
According to federal charges filed over the past couple of years, at least 70 people were part of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy that exploited two federally funded nutrition programs to fraudulently obtain more than $250 million in one of the largest COVID-era fraud schemes anywhere in the nation.
The defendants allegedly used a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization called Feeding Our Future to avoid tough scrutiny from the Minnesota Department of Education, which was supposed to be conducting oversight of the programs.
More scrutiny came recently after an unverified online video from conservative influencer Nick Shirley alleging fraud in child care in Somali communities in Minneapolis. Minnesota officials have disputed the allegations. During more recent site checks, officials said locations highlighted by the video were operating as expected.
Last week, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services said that the Trump administration is pausing child-care funding to all states after the Minnesota allegations emerged. The official said the funds will be released “only when states prove they are being spent legitimately.”
“Republicans are playing politics with the future of our state,” Walz said in his statement on Monday. “And it’s shameful.”
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel, Isabella Murray, Laura Romero and Mike Levine contributed to this report.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth speaks during a news conference following a weekly Democratic policy luncheon at the Capitol, Jan. 6, 2026. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Tammy Duckworth is introducing legislation Friday that would put restraints on the current and former political appointees to be nominated as inspectors general.
The Inspector General’s Independence Act would bar President Donald Trump and future presidents from nominating political appointees who have served or are serving in their administration from serving as an inspector general.
“Whether this is acquisitions or our VA or DoD or Commerce or HHS, inspectors general are supposed to be calling balls and strikes and be independent and say, ‘Hey, you can’t do that,'” Duckworth told ABC News. “But if you put a political appointee in that position they are going to lean in favor of who put them there.”
The move comes nearly one year after the administration moved to unilaterally dismiss 17 inspectors general across a number of agencies at the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pushed back on the administration’s move at the time, raising concerns that the firing of inspectors generals would introduce partisanship into a role that is meant to serve as an independentwatchdog. Lawsuits challenging the viability of those firings are going through the courts.
“There have been lawsuits that are in courts right now that say that those firings were illegal,” Duckworth said. “So this piece of legislation in particular will make it very clear that what he did was illegal, and not just leave it to courts to interpret existing law.”
Duckworth points to the nomination and subsequent Senate confirmation of Cheryl Mason as Veterans Affairs inspector general as one example of why the legislation is critical.
Mason was appointed to fill a vacancy left after the administration fired the previous inspector general. She was serving as a senior adviser to Trump’s Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins at the time she was nominated by the president to serve as the department’s IG.
During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in June, a number of Democratic lawmakers, including Duckworth, raised concerns about Mason’s ability to serve as an independent watchdog for the agency she had served in as a political adviser.
Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, the committee chairman, also raised questions about how Mason would ensure her independence, but ultimately voted with all Republicans to confirm her.
Mason at the time vowed to serve as an independent actor, citing her years of experience at VA working at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals before returning as an adviser. Her role as an adviser, she said at the time, was to gather information and convey it in a nonpartisan manner.
“I consider myself to be an impartial, independent aid to the department because that’s my role,” Mason told senators on the panel when questioned about her loyalty to the VA secretary. “I am loyal to the veterans. That’s who I am loyal to.”
“I work for the president and the secretary,” Mason said in the hearing when pressed by Democrats about her independence. “But also if confirmed will work for this committee.”
Mason was confirmed by the Senate in July by a vote of 53-45. No Democrats voted to confirm her.
Duckworth’s legislation would have barred Mason from being nominated. Her bill, if passed, would prevent similar politically aligned nominees from serving as IGs.
The legislation is being co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin, Richard Blumenthal, Adam Schiff, Kirsten Gillibrand and Peter Welch. It does not currently have any Republican co-sponsors.
It’s unclear whether it would have the necessary support to advance through either chamber of Congress, and unlikely that President Trump would sign it into law.
Retired Navy Captain E. Royce Williams acknowledges applause after receiving the Medal of Honor during U.S. President Trump’s State of the Union address during a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on February 24, 2026, in Washington, DC.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — During his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Donald Trump awarded two Congressional Medals of Honor, the nation’s highest decoration for valor in combat — one for heroism from more than 70 years ago and the other for heroism in the most recent U.S. military action.
One of the recipients was Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, a special operations helicopter pilot severely wounded in the raid that captured Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro. As Slover’s Chinook swept in, rounds fired from the ground tore through the cockpit and into his legs and hip.
“Eric was hit very badly in the leg and hip, one bullet after another. He absorbed four agonizing shots, shredding his leg into numerous pieces,” Trump said as Slover stood with the aid of a walker.
Slover was presented the award by Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, a break from tradition in which the president personally presents the award.
In recent decades, the review and awarding the Medal of Honor comes after exhaustive reviews and interviews with witnesses that can drag on for years. That had become the norm with heroic actions that occurred in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the announcement of Slover’s award marks a break with that pattern as he was awarded the medal just 52 days after his mission, a short turnaround similar to what was seen in World War II.
First lady Melania Trump presented the second Medal of Honor to retired Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams, a 100-year-old retired Navy captain whose extraordinary dogfight during the Korean War remained classified for decades, even to his wife, as the encounter could have ignited World War III.
“At 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves,” Trump said. “He was a legend long before this evening.”
According to Navy records, on Nov. 18, 1952, during the Korean War, Williams launched from an aircraft carrier on what was supposed to be a routine patrol. Then came a warning that seven MiG-15s were inbound. The three other American aircraft in Williams’ formation were unable to engage with the MiGs.
The MiGs he faced were Soviet aircraft flown by Soviet pilots at a time when the Soviet Union was not officially a combatant in the conflict. Public acknowledgment of the clash risked escalating into direct confrontation between nuclear powers, a step that, in 1952, many feared could ignite a third world war.
What followed was 30-minutes of aerial combat. By the time it ended, he had shot down four enemy jets. His own aircraft, a F9F-5 Panther, was riddled with more than 250 bullet holes, yet he managed to guide it back to the carrier and land safely on deck.
There was no celebration waiting for Williams. Instead, he was told he could not speak about what had happened and the encounter was immediately classified. He didn’t even tell his wife until the 1990s, when the records of the fight were declassified.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
