Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
President Donald Trump’s administration appeared Wednesday to have taken down an online list of federal properties in Maine and other states that it indicated it may sell.
The U.S. General Services Administration had initially published Tuesday the list of 440 “non-core” properties around the country that it called “functionally obsolete.” The GSA said in a news release the Trump administration will consider selling the buildings, but it is open to “creative solutions” that include leasing offices back and consolidating services in those places.
By Wednesday morning, the properties were no longer on the GSA’s website that instead said the list is “coming soon.” A GSA spokesperson did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.
The Maine properties that appeared on the list included the seven-story Edmund S. Muskie Federal Building in Augusta, which was built in 1966 and houses the city’s main post office as well as smaller offices, including those of U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King.
The Custom House in Portland, which was built between 1867 and 1872 to accommodate the city’s growing importance as a port, was also listed along with the Social Security Administration building in Presque Isle, which is one of eight field offices of its kind across the country, and a parking area in Portland.
It was unclear how serious the Republican president’s administration is about selling the buildings that it said included nearly 80 million square feet of office space in 47 states, including the U.S. Department of Justice headquarters and FBI office in Washington, D.C. Trump and his “government efficiency” czar Elon Musk have been targeting a 50 percent reduction in space occupied by federal workers, terminating leases across the country.
