Maryland Takes Legal Action Against Trump Administration Over Scrapped FBI Headquarters Project

Maryland filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the Trump administration for overturning a Biden-era decision to build a new FBI headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland. The state claims the administration unlawfully derailed the project to redirect more than $1 billion in funding toward an alternative site—the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

According to the complaint, the administration’s decision violates two congressional laws from 2022 that specifically limited the new FBI headquarters to one of three suburban locations: Greenbelt or Landover in Maryland, or Springfield, Virginia. In 2023, the General Services Administration (GSA) had officially selected Greenbelt as the preferred site following a lengthy review process.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a Democrat, criticized the administration’s move, stating, “The problem with the current FBI building is that it’s too old, too small, and too exposed. So what does the president do? He moves the FBI to another building that is too old, too small, and too exposed.”

The lawsuit, joined by Prince George’s County, accuses the administration of “sabotaging” a fair and lawful process that had already been approved and funded by Congress. Lawmakers have allocated over $1.1 billion for the headquarters project since 2016.

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown vowed to fight the administration’s reversal, asserting that the state would not allow the federal government to “strip away what Prince George’s County won and deny its communities the transformative benefits this project would bring.”

The FBI declined to comment on the lawsuit. The controversy marks a major escalation in a long-running dispute over where to relocate the agency’s headquarters—a decision with significant economic and political implications for the Washington metropolitan region.