A race against the clock is unfolding in Washington as House Democrats scramble to preserve federal records tied to President Trump’s most ambitious construction projects — including a proposed arch near Arlington National Cemetery — before a new Congress takes power. Whistleblowers have alleged that the U.S. Department of the Interior may already be destroying documents related to those projects, raising urgent questions about government transparency and accountability.
Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, dispatched 36 preservation letters dated November 9 to nine federal agencies and 27 private companies and organizations. Recipients include major defense contractors — Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, RTX, and Palantir — as well as the Trust for the National Mall. Each recipient was asked to certify in writing by November 23 that it is actively preserving relevant records.
The Interior Department pushed back firmly on the whistleblower allegations, calling them
“100% false.”
A department spokesperson told CNN that
“the Department follows all federal records management obligations as directed by the Department’s ethics officials.”
The department did not respond to questions about whether it would certify compliance by the November 23 deadline or address its coordination with Arlington National Cemetery.
Huffman’s letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum directed the department to preserve
“electronic messages involving official business that are sent using both official and personal accounts and devices,”
including
“phone-based message applications, or encryption software.”
It also called on the agency to disable auto-delete and disappearing message features and to recover anything already erased.
“Save everything,”
Huffman said in a statement accompanying the letters.
“Those days of obstruction are over.”
This isn’t the first time Democrats have raised these concerns. In August, Huffman and five other committee Democrats wrote to Dennis Kirk, Trump’s nominee for Interior inspector general, citing reports that department officials had shredded documents and used disappearing Signal messages to sidestep the Federal Records Act.
“Destruction of federal records implies there is something to hide,”
they wrote.
Federal law 44 U.S.C. 3106 requires federal agencies to report any unlawful destruction of records to the National Archives. Willfully destroying federal records can carry a prison sentence of up to three years, though agencies may lawfully dispose of records under approved schedules. It is worth noting that the preservation letters do not name any specific project, make no mention of whistleblowers, and do not accuse the private companies — including Lockheed Martin or others — of destroying anything.
The Arch and Its Legal Battles
The proposed arch near Arlington National Cemetery sits at the center of this controversy. The structure is already being deliberated in court, and on November 5, the National Capital Planning Commission approved its final site and building plans following a hearing that stretched more than nine hours. According to the commission’s approval document, the plan would use Arlington National Cemetery’s parking garage for arch visitors and Memorial Avenue — the cemetery’s entrance road — for drop-off and pickup. Federal aviation rules would also require continuous floodlighting of the arch’s top third throughout the night.
Three veterans filed suit to block the project back in February. As previously reported, the plaintiffs — Army veteran Michael Lemmon, a former U.S. ambassador to Armenia; Navy veteran Shaun Byrnes; and Army veteran Jon Gundersen — argue that the arch lacks congressional authorization and would destroy the historic sightline between Arlington House and the Lincoln Memorial.
“This is hallowed ground,”
Lemmon told Military Times.
Opponents presented modeling at the commission hearing showing the arch casting shadows across thousands of graves, including President John F. Kennedy’s. More than 90% of the 130 people who testified at the hearing opposed the project.
President Trump has stated on Truth Social that the arch would also house snipers and store drones and
“large quantities of sniper ammunition”
— a claim that has been questioned in court.
A 60-Day Window of Activity
The arch is not the only project moving fast. Over the next two months, several major initiatives — new fencing at Lafayette Square, the East Potomac Golf Links redevelopment, and the Tidal Basin plan that includes Trump’s proposed Garden of American Heroes — are all expected to advance through federal approval or historic preservation review before the new Congress is seated.
“It is going to be like a storm where it plays out until the new Congress is seated,”
Charles Birnbaum of the Cultural Landscape Foundation told CNN.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle defended the pace of action, saying Trump
“is moving at lightning speed because we don’t have time to waste.”
A court order in the arch case was set to lapse around November 19 unless extended — four days before Huffman’s certification deadline. The government was required to file a status report showing it was in compliance.
Committee aides have told CNN they anticipate a hearing early in the new Congress focused on both the golf course and the arch, and the panel is prepared to issue subpoenas if needed. Huffman made clear that more action is coming.
“Everything is coming; it’s all coming,”
he said.
“We’ll have tools to be able to stop a lot of it.”
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