Aug. 27 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday named a new head of the agency that oversees his ballroom project at the White House and a proposed national arch in Washington, D.C.
Mark Paoletta, the general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget, will take charge of the National Capital Planning Commission. He will replace Mark Scharf, who is set to become White House counsel on Monday.
“President Trump has transformed D.C. into a capital worthy of the greatest nation in history,” Mr. Paoletta said in a statement to the news agencies. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues to further the president’s historic restoration and beautification of the National Capital Region, especially in the 250th year of our country’s independence.”
The NCPC is the federal government’s planning agency for projects in and around the capital city. According to its website, it “provides overall planning guidance for federal land and buildings in the region.”
In April, the 12-member panel approved the construction of the ballroom where the East Wing of the White House once stood.
Supreme Court Justice John Roberts last week temporarily blocked a ruling by a lower court stopping the project in a lawsuit filed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
In addition to his post at the OMB, Paoletta has been the acting chief of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau since the start of August. Brian Johnson has been nominated to fill the role at the CFPB permanently.
Paoletta had represented Ginny Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, during the House Select committee’s investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
