Maryland lawmakers are reacting to President Donald Trump saying he's stopping the relocation of the FBI to Prince George's County.
This comes more than a year after the decision was made to move headquarters to Greenbelt. But now with Trump's comments, the big move is up in the air.
Right now, what it’s causing is a delay in the construction process that is yet to start and could take about a decade to be completed.
The move would have benefited the area and its businesses, according to local leaders.
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“We’re gonna stop it,” Trump said. “We’re gonna build another big fbi building right where it is.”
With this statement, president trump challenged the more than a decade-long planning process to move the FBI headquarters.
The GSA selected the 61-acre site near the Greenbelt Metro Station in 2023.
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“The longer it takes to build the new FBI headquarters, the longer we are at risk for an attack there, the longer the employees and passerby at the current headquarters at risk because the building is literally falling apart and the more it’s gonna cost because as for any public project, the longer it takes to build it the more it costs to do it,” said Congressman Glenn Ivey, who represents Maryland’s fourth district.
The president’s comments were also refuted by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, calling it a reckless move.
Zee, who works at Pop, Scoops & Dough, a family business that opened just two months ago in the area, said the project would elevate the Greenbelt community.
“I absolutely, 100% hope that it happens because it would boost about 30,000 jobs and salary increment in our area, it would boost the tax rate and the infrastructure, which we so need in our area,” she said.
“This is a need that the nation has and we need to move forward with it,” Ivey added.
In a recently released joint statement, Ivey and other local leaders said they would continue working to ensure that the headquarters is brought to Maryland.
And although the president claimed, “They were gonna build an FBI headquarters three hours away in Maryland,” the new facility would only be located less than 20 miles — or 35 minutes — away from its current location on Pennsylvania Avenue.
According to Ivey, it now could be up to the administration and the agency to determine what happens next.
