Trump administration can't scrap plan to move FBI headquarters to MD, judge rules

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to abandon its plans to keep the FBI headquarters in D.C., ruling it was improper for the Justice Department to usurp the U.S. General Services Administration's Biden-era decision to relocate the agency to Maryland.

In a Monday order, U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang in Maryland barred FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Todd Blanche from moving the bureau to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Northwest Washington.

The Justice Department and FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (D) said in a statement that the legal victory is "about more than a building."

"It is about ensuring that when Congress makes a decision, the Federal Government cannot simply ignore it because they do not like the outcome," Brown said. "Congress made a promise. The Trump Administration tried to break it. Now, the jobs, investment, and opportunity Marylanders deserve are within reach."

Gov. Wes Moore (D) said in a statement that President Donald Trump had "failed" to "take from Maryland what Maryland had already won."

"Now it is time to stop the games," Moore said, "and get to work building the world-class FBI headquarters that our public servants deserve, where it belongs: in Prince George's County, Maryland."

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees federal real estate, approved a plan in 2023 during the Biden administration to move the FBI from its current headquarters inside the J. Edgar Hoover Building in D.C. to Greenbelt in Prince George's County, a suburb located east of the nation's capital. That decision, which came after a years-long review process, was then changed by the Trump administration last summer.

Attorneys representing Brown's office and Prince George's County filed a lawsuit in November 2025 alleging that the Trump officials had violated federal law when they disregarded explicit congressional directives related to potential sites for the new FBI complex. The Trump administration also failed to consult with the state when it chose to move the agency to the Reagan building, the lawsuit claimed.

For decades, the decrepit Hoover building has been crumbling and studies have found it to be insufficiently secure. The agency launched a search for a new home in 2016, and three sites -- two in Maryland and one in Virginia -- emerged as final candidates.

During a lengthy and competitive bid process, Maryland leaders argued they could host a safer headquarters for the nation's leading law enforcement agency -- and that acquiring the contract would be an economic boon to Prince George's County.

They won the deal, frustrating both Virginia lawmakers and the FBI top brass, who favored a site in Springfield, Virginia.

But in early 2025, just months into President Trump's second term in the White House, he announced he would be keeping the FBI in D.C. Patel and the GSA later formalized the decision and moved to redirect funds for a Reagan building renovation that had been previously appropriated by Congress for other purposes.

At the time, GSA officials characterized the move as an efficient way to avoid $300 million in delayed maintenance costs to the Hoover building and "billions" in constructing a new campus in Greenbelt. In a prospectus that included a "30-year, present-value cost analysis," the GSA estimated the renovation cost would be $1.6 billion while new construction could rise to $2.4 billion.

But Chuang, in his Monday order, ruled those arguments were insufficient and the move a violation of federal law. Congress, he wrote, has never signed off on the change -- pointing to language federal lawmakers passed in the 2026 Appropriations Act Provision that expressly bars the use of previously appropriated funds for a Reagan building renovation until the FBI submits a complete architectural and building plan for the administration's proposed new headquarters.

No such plan has been submitted, Chuang wrote in his decision.

"The Trump Administration had no grounds to ignore this selection, or redirect even one penny that Congress specifically appropriated for construction of the competitively selected site," Democratic members of Maryland's congressional delegation said in a joint statement Monday. "We're glad to see the Court acknowledge this fact, ruling that the Trump Administration's actions are unlawful and void."

Prince George's County Executive Aisha N. Braveboy said in an interview that an FBI headquarters in Prince George's would bring 7,500 jobs and the single largest investment in county history.

"This was not something that we just asked to be given to us. We competed with other jurisdictions in the region and won," Braveboy said. "What that represents is not only a $4 billion investment, but also the opportunity to grow our quantum computing and cybersecurity industries in Prince George's County."

The judge ordered state and Trump administration officials to file a joint status report in the next two weeks, outlining proposed next steps in the litigation.

"We are going to be vigilant because we know that the Trump administration could appeal this decision. We think it was the right decision, so we're happy to take on an appeal if one comes," Braveboy said. "But this is really about equity. And we're going to fight for our residents here in Prince George's County."

"We're in it to win it," she said.