Arc de Trump: Commission of Fine Arts approves design for Trump's arch

President Donald Trump’s plan to build a 250-foot arch with a golden-winged angel-like figure sitting atop it in Washington received the green light on May 21 from one of two federal commissions reviewing the project.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were appointed by Trump, voted to approve the design for the "Triumphal Arch" on Memorial Circle near the Arlington National Cemetery, as the president continues to remake the nation's capital through various construction projects including a ballroom in the White House and renovations at the newly renamed Trump-Kennedy Center.

"We look forward to seeing the sculptural components of this approved design in the future," said CFA commission chair Rodney Mims Cook, Jr., after four out of seven members of the panel votes yes. Three were absent from the meeting.

Trump, who heard about the approval during a briefing with the press in the Oval Office, was pleased.

"I finally get good news on that," he said. "That's usually done for victories and war and things. There are 59 of them in the world. And we're the only important and major city that doesn't have one."

The proposed arch will sit on Memorial Circle, a traffic circle between Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington National Cemetery, will now be reviewed by the National Capital Planning Commission on June 4.

Even as Trump touted the arch nicknamed "Arc de Trump" as "the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World" in a Truth Social post last month, the CFA received more than 1000 letters opposing the project, according to Thomas Luebke.

On Thursday, during the public comment period, speaker after speaker opposed the project.

"The arch is yet one more vanity project for President Trump, which taxpayers must fund. Building the arch on Memorial Circle is a desecration of the sacred space where 400,000 soldiers and their family members are buried," said Susan Douglas. "The grotesque size of a 250 foot tall arch would block the historic sight line between the Robert E. Lee Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial."

Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, has filed a lawsuit representing three Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian to block construction of the arch. They contend the arch would obstruct the view between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial, "a view carefully designed to symbolize the unification of the country after the Civil War and the strength of a united nation."

Congress has not authorized construction of a memorial arch on the federal land managed by the National Park Service, which Public Citizen says is a first step required by statute before the government can move forward with construction. Trump also did not seek approval from Congress to begin construction on the ballroom, a fact which is being contested in courts.

Trump dismissed the idea on Thursday, saying the land was "owned" by the Department of the Interior.

"We're not doing it," he said. "We don't need anything from Congress."

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal.