By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) -Maryland on Thursday sued the Trump administration over its decision to scrap a Biden-era plan to construct new FBI headquarters just outside of Washington, D.C., in the state.
The state alleged in a lawsuit that the Republican administration was attempting to unlawfully “sabotage” the Greenbelt, Maryland, location and divert over $1 billion approved by Congress to an alternate location, the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington.
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.
The administration in July announced the new site, which is not far from the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the agency’s current headquarters. In the process, it cancelled the prior Biden administration plan for the Maryland headquarters.
“The problem with the current FBI building is that it’s too old, too small, and too exposed,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat, said in a statement. “So what does the president do? He moves the FBI to another building that is too old, too small, and too exposed.”
The lawsuit, which was filed by the state and Prince George’s County, argued that the Republican administration’s actions violate Congress’ explicit directives in two 2022 laws limiting where a new headquarters could be located.
The three suburban locations listed were Greenbelt, Maryland; Landover, Maryland; or Springfield, Virginia. The General Services Administration selected Greenbelt as the site in September 2023.
Congress appropriated more than $1.1 billion for the project between 2016 and 2024, according to the lawsuit.
“We will not let the Trump administration strip away what Prince George’s County won and deny its communities the transformative benefits this project would bring,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat, said in a statement.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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