The Department of Justice has asked a federal appeals court to allow construction to move forward on President Donald Trump's planned White House ballroom, pointing to the thwarted attack on last weekend's UFC event.

"This latest assassination plot against President Trump and dignitaries at the White House demonstrates the compelling need for the East Wing Project, with a Ballroom designed to defend against just such attacks," Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate wrote in a letter Tuesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, reports The Washington Post.

He added in the letter, released publicly Wednesday morning, that the proposed ballroom will support "a highly sophisticated Drone Port and Sniper Nests atop the Ballroom that would destroy any effort to launch such an attack."

The ballroom, he added, will feature many other critical strategic features, such as a "heavy steel drone-proof roof, missile-resistant columns, bullet, ballistic, and blast-proof glass windows, military-grade and hermetically sealed venting for air conditioning and heating, and far more."

Further, said Shumate, the ballroom's mass and height will "shield the White House grounds from attack, and give the Secret Service the visibility needed to identify attackers."

He added that the president and guests are currently attending major events held in "plastic tents that cannot even protect highly esteemed guests from inclement weather, let alone high-caliber bullets or kamikaze drones."

Five men have been arrested on accusations that they plotted a mass-casualty attack targeting government officials and others attending last weekend's UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House grounds.

The DOJ said that the suspects had allegedly planned to use explosive-armed drones to trigger chaos and force an evacuation, allowing sniper teams to open fire on "high-value targets" in the crowd as they fled the scene.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon halted aboveground construction on the project in April, finding that the administration had not demonstrated an immediate national security need for the ballroom.

However, a three-judge appeals panel later stayed Leon's order while it reviews the administration's appeal, allowing construction to proceed.

Administration officials have said the project is expected to take at least two years to complete.

The Justice Department previously pointed to other threats against Trump, including a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, as evidence supporting the need for the ballroom.

Leon, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, was not persuaded by those arguments and left his order in place.

During oral arguments this month, two members of the appeals panel, Judge Bradley Garcia, appointed by former President Joe Biden, and Judge Patricia Ann Millett, appointed by former President Barack Obama, appeared skeptical of the administration's claims regarding Trump's authority to proceed with the project.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which filed the lawsuit challenging the ballroom, has said it intends to continue its legal fight.

In April, the nonprofit said the shooting at the correspondents' dinner was an "awful event" but did not alter what it described as the legal requirement for congressional approval of the project. The organization, which is authorized by Congress to protect federal buildings, has also rejected the Justice Department's contention that the lawsuit puts the president at risk.

Contractors' internal estimates place the ballroom's cost at $600 million, with taxpayers expected to cover roughly half.

The White House estimated the cost at $200 million last year and said the project would be funded by private donors.