Trump's DC commission approves his victory arch — but tones down the vision

President Donald Trump got a bit of good news for his plans to reshape Washington, D.C. on Thursday as a commission full of his own appointees voted to advance his so-called "victory arch" project, creating a new, Trump-envisioned monument at a key entrance to the nation's Capitol, right on the other side of the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial.

However, even Trump's own U.S. Commission of Fine Arts decided to tone down a few elements of Independence Arch, often sarcastically nicknamed the "Arc de Trump," particularly the statuary around the arch.

According to CBS News, "The commission's vice chairman, architect James McCrery II, said in April that he preferred the arch without the figures on top, which would have reduced the arch's height by about 80 feet. Critics of the project argue the arch would dominate the skyline and disrupt views from the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington National Cemetery. At 250 feet, the arch would be significantly taller than the 99-foot Lincoln Memorial, which sits across Memorial Bridge. The Washington Monument is 555 feet."

Ultimately, the figures were approved, but not everything made the cut.

"McCrery recommended doing away with the lions on the base and objected to plans for an underground tunnel for pedestrians to get to the arch, which would be built on a traffic circle. Both design elements have been removed. Preliminary surveys and testing of the site began last week."

All of this comes following reports that the Trump administration is planning to move ahead with construction without any approval from Congress, citing as their authority a 100-year-old authorization to build a completely different monument on the same plot of land.