President Donald Trump is getting rid of members of the federal agency that would have reviewed his planned building projects as he works to physically remake Washington, D.C.
Trump fired all members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) on October 28. The commission, a federal agency established by Congress, has shaped the look of the nation’s capital for more than a century, from its museums and monuments to office buildings and parks, and now Trump is set to stack it with loyalists.
The CFA was expected to review Trump’s planned White House ballroom and arch monument, but the White House told The Washington Post, which first reported the firings, that the administration is “preparing to appoint a new slate of members to the commission that are more aligned with President Trump’s ‘America First’ policies.”
As Trump looks to remodel the White House campus with a massive ballroom where the East Wing once stood and build his own monument in Washington, D.C., amid a wider attempt at expanding presidential power and an ongoing government shutdown, he’s taking over the nation’s capitol’s commission on arts and architecture.
Here’s what the commission is and how Trump’s firings fit into a broader strategy to remake D.C. in his vision.
What is the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, or CFA?
Congress established the CFA in 1910 to “advise the federal government on matters pertaining to the arts and national symbols, and to guide the architectural development of Washington, D.C.,” according to the commission.
The scope of its work began first as advising on statues, fountains, and monuments, but it grew by executive orders in 1910, 1921, and 1950, respectively, to include the review of public buildings and park designs in D.C., and the “Old Georgetown” area of Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood.
As part of its responsibilities, the independent agency reviews federal construction projects, like the White House tennis pavilion constructed during Trump’s first term in 2019. It was also expected to review Trump’s planned triumphal arch and White House ballroom. The National Capital Planning Commission ultimately approves projects. It is now also run by Trump appointees.
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts typically consists of seven members appointed by the president. Members serve four-year terms on the commission without compensation.
Who was on the CFA board?
The CFA’s most recent members had backgrounds in architecture. It’s members were:
- Bruce Becker, president of the sustainable architecture and development firm Becker + Becker, who was appointed in 2024
- Peter Cook, design principal at HGA Architects & Engineers, who was appointed in 2021
- Lisa Delplace, director of the landscape architecture firm Oehme, van Sweden, who was appointed in 2022
- Hazel Ruth Edwards, a Howard University architecture professor, who was appointed in 2021.
- Bill Lenihan, principal and partner of the planning and design services firm Tevebaugh Architecture, who was appointed in 2024
- Justin Garrett Moore, program officer for the Humanities in Place program at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, who was appointed in 2021
Former CFA chair Billie Tsien, whose firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects designed the Obama Presidential Center, was appointed in 2021 but resigned from the commission earlier this year.
Former members of the CFA contacted by Fast Company did not respond to a request for comment.
What do the CFA firings indicate about presidential power?
Trump’s firing of the entire board represents an expansion of executive actions first taken by then-President Joe Biden when he replaced four members in 2021.
The White House at the time said the change was made to bring “a diversity of background and experience, as well as a range of aesthetic viewpoints” to the commission. At the time, Luebke, the CFA secretary since the George W. Bush administration, told the Post he couldn’t recall a time a member of the CFA was replaced before their term ended unless they resigned.
For Trump, the firings represent just the latest attempt to clear guardrails. The move mirrors his administration’s past actions to similarly takeover other cultural institutions, like the Kennedy Center, which elected Trump its chair in February after Trump named an entirely new board, and the Smithsonian, which is facing a review. It also runs parallel to Trump’s other moves to expand presidential power, including the imposition of tariffs, deployment of troops to U.S. cities, and the bombing targets without congressional approval.
How does this fit in with Trump’s plans to redesign D.C. architecture?
The removal of the CFA board ultimately makes it that much easier for Trump to execute on his plans to redesign Washington, and the firings fit into a larger aesthetic argument by the Trump administration.
Trump signed an executive order in August making classical architecture the preferred and default architecture in Washington, D.C. It’s a style whose proponents include McCrery Architects, the architectural firm behind his planned White House ballroom, and Justin Shubow, one of the Trump-appointed CFA members who Biden replaced. Considering the board’s advisory role on “on matters of design and aesthetics,” according to its website, the firing of CFA members allows Trump to pack it with like-minded members who share his architectural point of view.
In addition to the ballroom, Trump has plans to remake the nation’s capital’s monuments. A statue of a Confederate general that was destroyed in 2020 was reinstated this week in Washington’s Judiciary Square. Trump has also announced plans for the arch near Memorial Bridge. New CFA membership could reduce any remaining friction that would otherwise make Trump’s plans more difficult to execute.
How have Trump’s building projects been received so far?
Trump’s building projects are off to a rough start, though, even facing criticism from the right.
Former Ronald Reagan speechwriter and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan called photos of the East Wing demolition a metaphor, writing that “all this was done without public demand or support, and was done in a way that was abrupt, complete, unstoppable.”
And a YouGov poll of U.S. adults found out 53% oppose his demolition of the East Wing, compared to 24% who approve and 24% who aren’t sure; 28% of Republicans also said they oppose the demolition.
While the public isn’t yet sold on Trump’s D.C. renovations, his new commission will be. With only allies installed in the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, Trump has made any negative reviews from the agency tasked with advising him even less likely.