Earlier this week, a retired General Services Administration official accused the Trump administration of attempting to demolish four historic federal buildings in Washington, D.C., including the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, Bloomberg Law reported.

The former official, Mydelle Wright, made the allegation in a supplemental declaration filed in a case brought by preservation groups seeking to stop President Trump from painting a stone federal building. Wright said the White House is soliciting bids for the demolition of the buildings without the involvement of the GSA, which she added has “sole authority over this process” when it comes to maintaining government buildings.

“For the first time of which I am aware, a President is personally involved in facilitating end-runs around the agency’s obligations to the buildings that are our national heritage, and who in the agency is going to tell him ‘no?’” she wrote. (A lawyer for the Justice Department refuted the allegation, calling it “hearsay and speculation.”)

The future of the Cohen building is of particular c...